ABSTRACT
The collapse of communism in East-Central Europe not only revolutionized the societies of the region, but also revolutionized international politics. With the disappearance of the communist threat, so disappeared the rationale for containment and the basis of the Cold War. The events in East-Central Europe and the Soviet Union seemed to open up a new chapter in European history and world politics and to provide an opportunity to move beyond the tension and conflict of the post-war era. In the United States, there was discussion of an economic "peace dividend" and the possibility of construction of a "new world order." Much of this early euphoria disappeared with the massive US military intervention in the Persian Gulf in 1991 and the growing problems of nationalism and economic decay in the former Soviet Union and East-Central Europe. The end of the ideological divisions of the Cold War raised hopes of a revitalization of international peacekeeping institutions, especially the United Nations.
