post-Cold War Europe Research Articles

Report of the developments of the German National Association of Political Science Students (IPOSS eV)

This report elaborates the actual projects of the German national association for political science students. Mentioned are the workshop “democracy in post-cold war europe”, the essay competition, the linklist, the excursion, the care&contact fair, the University department profiles, the volunteership databank, the Survey of new students, the book ‘Introduction to Political science: by and for students’, the Essay peer reviewing, the homepage, the Public relations work and finally the finances.

Capturing the Complexity of Conflict: Dealing with Violent Ethnic Conflicts of the Post-Cold War Era

Violent conflict and war - old problems (still!) in need of solution a multilevel framework and pretheory of violent conflict and war accessing violent conflict and war accessing violent conflict and war - a simulation-based design modelling violent conflict and war validated research design - relationship of PDS findings to other studies implications for theory - a generic theory of violent conflict and war implications for practice - dealing with ethnic conflict in post-Cold War Europe violent conflict and war - further implications for theory, research and practice. Appendices: basic manual and related materials for the prisoners' dilemma situation (PDS) PDS participants' questionnaire operational definitions comparisons between relationships in the PDS models and corresponding relationships in other studies.

Neither Hegemony nor Dominance: Reconsidering German Power in Post Cold-War Europe

German unification in 1989 raised the spectre of German hegemony in post-cold war Europe. In this article, I demonstrate that Germany lacks the structural power consistent with European hegemony or dominance; that there is little evidence supporting an appreciable gap between Germany's structural power and foreign policy ambitions; and that apparent symptoms of German hegemony, particularly the process of institutional emulation in Central and Eastern Europe, reflect other international processes and incentives emanating from the state system itself. This reassessment and downgrading of Germany's relative and absolute power resolve the paradox of German structural power and German reluctance identified by others. But this alternative narrative raises another more important question: why is Germany treated as a potential or even aspiring hegemon in Europe? The answer to that question is located in the interconnected legacies of Auschwitz and the occupation regime. This joint legacy constitutes an important part of the historical context within which we frame our assessments and judgements of German power; explains the frequently unwarranted exaggeration and suspicion of German power; and demonstrates how the past can function as a powerful prism though which we interpret the intentions, ambitions and capabilities of a state.

Managing the 'Minority Problem' in Post-Cold War Europe Within the Framework of a Multilayered Regime for the Protection of National Minorities

Managing the 'Minority Problem' in Post-Cold War Europe Within the Framework of a Multilayered Regime for the Protection of National Minorities

The Twilight of the Idols: East German Memory and Material Culture

By now it is commonplace to assert that the events of 1989 have radically and irreversibly transformed the face of Central European politics and culture. Where only a decade ago the political topography of Europe seemed to be set in cold war concrete for years to come, the speed and sweep of the East Bloc revolutions recast everything anew. Empires fell, walls were breached, and dictators toppled in what amounted to perhaps the greatest of all bicentennial tributes to the “spirit of 1789.” Even though the late French historian Francois Furet disqualified the upheavals as truly revolutionary on grounds that they produced no new political idea, there was no stopping the rush of millennial fervor attending the so-called annus mirabilis, or “year of miracles.” Indeed, the events were hailed as nothing less than the long-awaited renaissance of civil society, the emancipation of the second world, the “rebirth of Eastern Europe,” the “rebirth of history,” and even the “end of History.”1 While it is true that the wellsprings of reform lay in Poland, Hungary, and former Czechoslovakia, Germany enjoyed a preeminent place in this historical drama. Not only did the sudden dismantling of the cold war’s most potent political monument provide the most memorable media event symbolizing those wildfire revolutions; in addition, its unfolding Reunification saga effectively framed global discussion about the fate of post–cold war Europe. That the political map of Central Europe was splintering into ever smaller geopolitical units while Germany was consolidating and enlarging its territory was not the only cause for concern. Recollections of the German past and, in turn, the international anxiety about its bullish political future predictably invited widespread

Variable Geography: America's Mental Maps of a Greater Europe

American backing for the process of European enlargement into central and east Europe remains strong despite differences of strategic interest, foreign policy choices and, during the past decade, a certain US ambivalence towards the trans-atlantic relationship. Drawing on a typology of ‘mental maps’, the author illustrates how the many and varied American ideas of what a future Europe might look like have guided US (and European) leaders in their attempts at defining this new post-Cold War Europe. Whether these maps can combine into clear policy is debatable. Yet the overall American mental map of Europe is becoming clearer. It includes Turkey, and it may include Ukraine and even Russia. However, concerns remain among US officials that this conception of a Greater Europe, equipped with its own foreign policy and military force, may prove a mixed blessing.

Introduction and Overview

In her introduction to the themed articles in this special Europe issue of International Affairs, Julie Smith discusses the changing nature, identity, and institutional framework of post-Cold War Europe. Focusing on the dual problem of NATO and EU enlargement and conflicting perceptions of borders and geopolitical realities, she warns of the danger of an exclusive European club at the expense of those left out.

Poland's foreign policy since 1989: the challenges of independence

In its first decade of post-communist independence, Poland achieved far more than most dared believe in 1989. Despite domestic political and economic turmoil, it has joined Europe as a new member of NATO and a prospective member of the EU. This article traces the evolution of Polish foreign policy since 1989 over four time periods: First, the early uncertainties from 1989 to 1992 when Warsaw — caught between a reunifying Germany and a collapsing USSR — was intent on solidifying its relations with Central European neighbors. Second, the watershed year of 1993, which witnessed changes in every aspect of Poland's external relations — the demise of Visegrad, first moves toward NATO and EU enlargement, the emergence of serious tensions in Warsaw's relations with the East, especially Russia. Third, the years in the anterooms of Europe from 1994 to 1996, when Poland and its central European neighbors lobbied for early accession to the EU and NATO, while relations with Russia remained in the deep freeze. And fourth, the period since 1997, in which Warsaw has been negotiating its “return to Europe”, joining NATO in 1999 and actively pursuing membership in the EU. These gains have not come quickly or easily; rather, they demonstrate a hard earned consistency in Poland's foreign policy agenda, despite numerous changes in domestic politics, as well as an increasingly realistic vision of the country's place in post-Cold War Europe.

'A new map is unrolling before us': Cartography in News Media Representations of Post-Cold War Europe

The 1990s have witnessed the publication of a plethora of maps in the British news media on the subject of the 'new Europe'. These graphic representations are part of a broad debate concerning the emerging post-Cold War European political landscape. This paper explores these maps and their role in the propagation of new European identities and geopolitical discourse. The study reveals a subtle change from triumphalist Western representations of the European political landscape, especially the eastward expansion of Western ideals and institutions as a route to regional security, during the early 1990s, to a re-trenchment into 'realist' images, more redolent of the Cold-War period, in recent years. The study is itself the product of recent developments in cartographic research which seeks to uncover and understand the social-political impact of medium.

'A new map is unrolling before us': Cartography in News Media Representations of Post-Cold War Europe

The 1990s have witnessed the publication of a plethora of maps in the British news media on the subject of the 'new Europe'. These graphic representations are part of a broad debate concerning the emerging post-Cold War European political landscape. This paper explores these maps and their role in the propagation of new European identities and geopolitical discourse. The study reveals a subtle change from triumphalist Western representations of the European political landscape, especially the eastward expansion of Western ideals and institutions as a route to regional security, during the early 1990s, to a re-trenchment into 'realist' images, more redolent of the Cold-War period, in recent years. The study is itself the product of recent developments in cartographic research which seeks to uncover and understand the social-political impact of medium.

Whose Europe is it anyway? The 1998 Stein Rokkan lecture

Abstract. This article addresses the issue of whether a model of deep European integration might be envisaged in a continent–wide process that might accompany eastern enlargement of the European Union. The paper argues that deep integration in Western Europe has been built on three dimensions: the functional; the territorial; and affiliational. The articulation of these three dimensions has evolved through not only the EU, but also a dense pattern of other transnational linkages, including those between immediate neighbours. Moreover, different west European countries have been linked into this process through varied patterns for ‘domesticating’ Europe. Efforts to develop an EU polity require the interplay of all three dimensions of integration, a tough goal for post–cold–war Europe in the western part of the continent, let alone in ‘pan–Europe’.

Norms, Institutions, and National Identity in Contemporary Europe

The constructivist study of norms faces two central challenges—reintegrating agency into its largely structural accounts and unpacking its arguments at the national level. This article addresses these issues, and does so in four parts. First, I briefly review the burgeoning constructivist literature, exploring the ontological and theoretical reasons for its neglect of agency. Second, by adding social content to the concept of diffusion, the transmission mechanism linking international norms to domestic change, I explain the motivation of domestic actors to accept new normative prescriptions, thus making a start at restoring agency to constructivist accounts. Third, I argue these key actors will vary cross-nationally as a function of state-society relations (“domestic structure”).Fourth, the argument is applied to the politics of national identity in post—Cold War Europe. In particular, I examine the degree to which international norms are affecting debates over citizenship and national minorities in contemporary Germany, with empirical data drawn from the European human rights regime centered on the Council of Europe.

Economic security and the problem of cooperation in post-Cold War Europe

The end of the Cold War and the transformation of the Yalta security system generated a debate about the survivability of the postwar institutions of security, particularly NATO. This debate is too narrow in its focus. We argue that security has two mutual constitutive elements, the political-military and the economic. The interdependence of these two elements of the future security architecture raises a set of interrelated questions addressed in this article: What are the economic elements of security? How have the changes in the European state system affected the prospects for the institutionalization of security cooperation, broadly defined? Does a stable security architecture require the parallel construction of the economic and military institutions of security?

Botching the Balkans: Germany's Recognition of Slovenia and Croatia

On December 23, 1991, the Federal Republic of Germany announced its intention to proceed with unilateral diplomatic recognition of the secessionist Yugoslav states of Croatia and Slovenia, unquestionably one of the most precipitous acts in post-Cold War Europe. With it the Bonn government in effect renounced the legitimacy of the existing Yugoslav state and pressured other European governments to do the same. Within weeks the Yugoslav federation came apart at every seam, while its civil affairs degenerated into an anarchy of armed violence as convoluted in many respects as the Thirty Years' War.In Germany's defense, it should be conceded at the outset that an alternative approach to recognition would not necessarily have produced a fundamentally more peaceful transformation of Yugoslavia. In light of the deepening political and economic cleavages with which the multinational state had been wrestling since the 1970s, the reasonable question is not whether the serial wars of the Yugoslav succession could have been avoided altogether, but whether Germany's action offered Yugoslavia and its populace the best chance for a more peaceful course of change given the circumstances. Did Bonn apply the best of its diplomatic and political brains to the issues of sovereignty, self-determination, and human rights? Were its actions morally responsible with regard to Balkan, German, and European history?

Nationalism and Internationalism in Post-Cold War Europe

When the Cold War ended, permanent peace based on close interdependence and strong institutions appeared within reach in Europe. What had been achieved by the mid-1990s fell short of this internationalist vision. The question raised in this article is to what extent the realization of the vision was inhibited by nationalist concerns often ascribed to governments and peoples alike. The conclusion is that nationalist concerns not only hindered but also helped to promote change in the direction advocated by internationalists. `Nationalist internationalism' may be as significant as `deliberate internationalism' in world politics.

The security architectures and institutional futures of post-1989 Europe

In this article, we identify the points of convergence, divergence and parallelism in the various security architectures on offer by the major powers; seek to place those architectures along the continuum of security system outcomes; and explore the issue of institutional choice in the contemporary European security order. We also address a set of questions derived from the institutional requirements of the European security order. Does the emerging European security order demonstrate the characteristics of regime congruence and interdependence? What lessons can be drawn from the institutional configurations within the economic and military-political components defining the security problematique in post-Cold War Europe? Must there be a parallel construction of the economic and military institutions of the European security order?

The security architectures and institutional futures of post-1989 Europe

In this article, we identify the points of convergence, divergence and parallelism in the various security architectures on offer by the major powers; seek to place those architectures along the continuum of security system outcomes; and explore the issue of institutional choice in the contemporary European security order. We also address a set of questions derived from the institutional requirements of the European security order. Does the emerging European security order demonstrate the characteristics of regime congruence and interdependence? What lessons can be drawn from the institutional configurations within the economic and military-political components defining the security problematique in post-Cold War Europe? Must there be a parallel construction of the economic and military institutions of the European security order?

Task-sharing for European security

With the title I've been assigned to talk about, task-sharing, I'm looking at the issue in the context of the title of this section. Also, I'm looking at the issue in the context of the title of the conference, which is broader in scope. Further on, I'm looking at task-sharing in the context of overall European security, and not just in the sense of what the Americans, Spanish, French and others can contribute. In essence, I'll be looking at task-sharing in the context of designing a peace and security system for postCold War Europe that is meant to be achievable: a peace and security ( to make use of a fashionable word) that is actually coming into place as we speak because of its making use of existing international governmental and non-governmental actors to provide for security on the continent. The task-sharing that I'm about to share with you involves a model I've been looking at called the New European Peace and Security System NEPSS, for short. And NEPSS has both descriptive and prescriptive elements. Descriptively, as I just indicated, NEPSS is developing as we speak; but, it also has prescriptive elements, elements that I think ought to be there for the post-Cold War peace and security system in the new Europe to prevent what I call future Yugoslavias. First of all, the descriptive aspects of NEPSS: Here, I'm looking at the post-Cold War peace and security architecture for Europe in the context of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is the main organizing device for my model, for the simple reason that it includes all the former Cold War enemies, and the neutral and unaligned, numbering some 54/55 participating states in all. And, as you all know, the OSCE (coming from the old CSCE the Helsinki Process) has three pillars, three distinguishing dimensions.

European security: an introduction to security issues in post-Cold War Europe

European security: an introduction to security issues in post-Cold War Europe Get access European security: an introduction to security issues in post-Cold War Europe. By Andrew M. Dormanand Adrian Treacher. Aldershot: Dartmouth. 1995. 207pp. Index. £40.00; ISBN 1 855 21604 3. Pb.: £15.00; ISBN 1 855 21611 6. Paul Cornish Paul Cornish 1The Royal Institute of International Affairs Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 72, Issue 4, October 1996, Page 800, https://doi.org/10.2307/2624142 Published: 01 October 1996

Remaking the hexagon: the new France in the new Europe

Introduction: challenges to French identity, Gregory Flynn. Part 1 The weight of history in France today: the legacy of traumatic experiences in French politics today, Jean-Noel Jeanneney the France we have lost - social, economic and cultural discontinuities, Richard Kuisel democratic dysfunctions vs republican obsolescence - the outcome of French exceptionalism. Part 2 Challenges to French economic order: De Francfort au franc fort - the decision for a strong currency, Jacques Le Cacheux France and global competition, W. James Adams the domestic consequences of international economic alignment, David Cameron. Part 3 Social change and political institutions: change and stability in French elites, Ezra Suleiman the deconstruction and reconstruction of the French party system, Yves Meny trade and identity - the coming protectionism?, Suzanne Berger. Part 4 France in the new Europe: France and security in the new Europe - between the Gaullist legacy and the search for a new model, Frederic Bozo order and French identity in post-Cold War Europe, Gregory Flynn thoughts on sovereignty and French politics, Stanley Hoffmann.