Dr. Eszter Simon from the Institute of Conflict, Cooperation and Security at the University of Birmingham (UK) will present her research on the institutionalization of trust and the birth of the Moscow-Washington hotline.

 She will discuss such questions as under what conditions trust may be institutionalized, what institution-based trust is, how President Kennedy and Chairman Khrushchev arrived at mutual trust as a consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis and how, in 1963, this trust was institutionalized into the Moscow-Washington hotline: the direct and secure emergency communication link between US and Russian leaders which, in an evolved form, is still in use today. The lessons from this case on how trust can become institutionalized have broader implications not only for the potential creation and use of other inter-governmental hotlines, but also more generally for the management of conflict and crisis in both politics and management. Due to this common interest, Dr. Simon collaborates with the Reinhard Mohn Institute on this research. The seminar is open to anyone interested in the topic, i.e. in trust research, conflict management, the Cold War, or U.S.-Russian Relations.