ABSTRACT
This European tendency culm inated in the cataclysm of the First W orld War and the subsequent em ergence of fascist dictatorships in G erm any and Italy, w hich brought about the even greater cataclysm of the Second W orld War. The exception to realpolitik in Europe was the rise of Soviet com m unism , w hich provided an ideological counterw eight to the universalistic principles espoused by the U nited States. D uring the Cold War, w hile M oscow and W ashington were locked in a global struggle for hearts and m inds, the m ainstream nations of W estern Europe, although them selves dem ocratic, w ere prim arily m otivated by the desire for self-preservation. The U nited States took the lead in prom oting W estern values, m ost prom inently by using the Helsinki process to m ake hum an rights a centrepiece of W estern foreign policy A lthough European governm ents followed in the US slipstream , they w ere never - w ith a few exceptions, such as Britain under M argaret Thatcher - com pletely com fortable in w aging ideologi cal warfare.
