Yale University Press
Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
Based on secret records of White House-Kremlin contacts, Not One Inch shows how, in the 1990s, the United States overcame Russian resistance to expand NATO, ultimately bringing the alliance to a billion people. But it also reveals how Washington’s hardball tactics, combined with Moscow’s self-inflicted wounds, undermined a potentially lasting partnership during the decade culminating in Vladimir Putin’s rise to power.
Overview
Based on secret records of White House-Kremlin contacts, Not One Inch shows how, in the 1990s, the United States overcame Russian resistance to expand NATO, ultimately bringing the alliance to a billion people. But it also reveals how Washington’s hardball tactics, combined with Moscow’s self-inflicted wounds, undermined a potentially lasting partnership during the decade culminating in Vladimir Putin’s rise to power. On the 30th anniversary of Soviet collapse, Sarotte shows how NATO expansion transformed the era between the Cold War and COVID.
M.E. Sarotte is the Kravis Professor at Johns Hopkins University, a researcher at Harvard’s Center for European Studies, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She earned her AB at Harvard and her PhD in History at Yale. Her books include The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall, listed as a Best Book of 2014 by The Economist and the Financial Times, and 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe, a Financial Times Best Book of 2009.
The Washington History Seminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University and the National History Center) and Christian Ostermann (Woodrow Wilson Center) and is organized jointly by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Woodrow Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year. The seminar thanks its anonymous individual donors and institutional partners (the George Washington University History Department and the Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest) for their continued support.
Moderators
Christian F. Ostermann
Woodrow Wilson Center
Eric Arnesen
Professor of History, The George Washington University. Director, National History Center of the American Historical Association.
Panelists
Serhii Plokhii
Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University
Jennifer Siegel
Heidi Tworek
Hosted By
History and Public Policy Program
The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs. Read more
Cold War International History Project
The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. Read more
Kennan Institute
The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange. Read more
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