The collapse of the totalitarian system and the disintegration of the Soviet Union took the West by complete surprise. For many years Western co-operation and West European integration proceeded on the assumption that the division of Europe and Germany would be there to stay. As a consequence, the Western states are now having great difficulties in adapting their co-operative arrangements to the challenges of a new European environment, and in coping with the political problems that had been swept under the carpet for the sake of preserving "bipolar stability". In this book, Alting von Geusau offers an analysis of Western co-operation from a post-totalitarian perspective. He reminds the reader of America's involvement and the tragic consequences of the two World Wars. He explains why "the order of Yalta" was a myth and how the Soviet designs for Europe were ultimately defeated by civil resistance. Post-war American leadership created the free space for the remarkable growth of Western organizations and the dynamics of European integration.
American and French policies of containment are re-examined from the same post-totalitarian perspective and found to be in need of adapting to the new realities. In two final chapters, the author carefully reviews the agreements reached in the principal Western and European organizations between November 1989 and January 1992 with a view to adapting their tasks to the new Europe. He also underlines the emerging importance of a new partnership between the United States and the united Germany. Combining historical, legal and political analysis, this title should be a useful source of reference for advanced students in European organization and Western co-operation. In addition it may be especially useful to training programmes for scholars, students and diplomats from East and Central Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union.