La Línea de la Distension

A Spanish diplomat who participated in the entire course of CSCE from Geneva to Helsinki to Belgrade (his book went to press before the meeting in Madrid) chronicles the negotiations and places them in the context of Europe's age-old search for security. For the most part the story is familiar, but he adds some interesting points, especially in describing the policies and tactics by which Spain used the conference to aid its emergence from the relative isolation of the Franco era.