The United States and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Two important studies of American policies towards Eastern Europe appeared last year. John C. Campbell, Senior Research Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations and former member of the Policy Planning Staff in the State Department, published American Policy Toward Communist Eastern Europe: The Choices Ahead;* and Zbigniew Brzezinski, Director of the Research Institute on Communist Affairs at Columbia University and a Consultant to the Department of State, Alternative to Partition, For a Broader Conception of America's Role in Europe.2 The two books largely complement each other. Dr. Campbell presents his analysis of the current state of U.S. relations with Eastern Europe against a broad background of postwar developments. He outlines various alternatives open to Washington, but stops short of clearly recommending any one of them. Dr. Brzezinski's attention is primarily directed to the 1960*s.3 The gist of his book is an eloquent proposal for a radically new American policy towards Eastern Europe. In an admirably cogent analysis, Dr. Campbell notes the importance of Eastern Europe in postwar international politics, where there lain many points of contention affecting the balance of power in Europe and the peace of the world (p 4), and proceeds to explain the relative lack of attention paid to it by the United States. In their policies towards Eastern Europe the Americans have been faced with a dilemma. They have wished the Eastern European nations to be independent, but at the same time they have not been prepared to make any significant sacrifices to attain this goal. The area simply has not been regarded as sufficiently important to the United States to warrant involvement there which would carry with it the risk of having to use force.