ABSTRACT
[Since the beginning of the 1950s], the division of Europe and the repression of political pluralism in its eastern half have coincided with an unprecedented period of peace among the great powers. 1 Now, however, social change in the Soviet bloc and “new thinking” in Soviet foreign policy are undermining the stable Cold War stalemate in Europe. Simultaneously, mass political participation is expanding in Communist Europe, the legitimacy of the old institutions of the Communist era is collapsing, and international alignments are becoming more fluid. 2
