On November 19, 1990, the participating states of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) gathered in Paris to sign the Charter of Paris and celebrate an end to the Cold War. How did the thirty-five CSCE countries, escape the clutches of the Cold War without a violent confrontation? Janie Leatherman argues that by forging an understanding of cooperative security and embracing the protection of human rights, the primacy of democratic government, and free market economies, the CSCE led the participating states from Cold War confrontation toward a democratic peace. – Publisher description.