ABSTRACT
The idea of Western policy coordination towards Eastern Europe raises two obvious questions. One is whether there is a West; the other is whether there is an East. Nearly two generations later, the two systems are still in place, constituting together a security order but also representing for the members of that order a whole network of political and economic arrangements. In these terms, East and West obviously do exist — and the prime responsibility of both Eastern and Western diplomacy is to enable them to coexist. This chapter aims to recognise that the West is riven by disagreements not only over intermediate objectives, but also over intellectual and political analysis — whether these concern the Siberian gas pipeline, reactions to the imposition of martial law in Poland, or the development of relations between the two Germanies. Working towards a common understanding of what is meant by differentiation also means abjuring provocative rhetoric.
