Soviet Role in Nuclear Cooperation between Cuba and Hungary in the 1980s

Via the plans for constructing a zero-power nuclear research reactor, legal and technical conditions of nuclear knowledge transfer are examined between Hungary and Cuba in the 1980s. The case, rescued via archival investigation, is presented in the context of Cold War Soviet, Hungarian and Cuban political, economic and scientific goals. The studied nuclear cooperation outlines a complex power relation, including ties between the East and the Global South, as well as the hegemonic role of the Soviet Union. The motives and the nature of the behaviour of the countries are analysed as well as the possible survival of these patterns to the 21st century.