Michael Paulauskas is interested in how cultural developments during the Cold War impacted diplomatic relations between the US and the USSR and shaped the outlook of diplomats on both sides of the Iron Curtain. His current work examines Soviet-American relations during détente, with a particular emphasis on the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., from the 1960s through the 1970s. Using previously unexamined materials from Russian and American archives, he reveals the tensions between Soviet policymakers in the center and diplomats on the ground, arguing that Soviet foreign policy functioned not simply as an expression of the Kremlin's will, but as a complex bureaucratic process that frequently wreaked havoc on superpower negotiations. Future projects of interest include Soviet-American friendship societies, hockey diplomacy, and the Pepsi/Stoli trade deal, all of which represent critically understudied moments in the global Cold War. Selected Publications "Reagan and the Soviet Union/Cold War Prosecution, 1981-1985," in A Companion to Ronald Reagan, ed. Andrew L. Johns (Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming). Selected Awards Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, 2008-9 Kennan Institute Short-Term Grant, 2008 UNC Center for Global Initiatives Pre-Dissertation Travel Award, Summer 2007 Works in Progress Book project: Moscow on the Potomac: The Soviet Embassy and Détente Undergraduate Courses Taught • History 2010, Survey of US History I • History 2020, Survey of US History II

« Read Less