ABSTRACT
The Cold War ended rapidly in Europe and took most people by surprise. Four and a half decades of stalemate suddenly passed, leaving the United States uncertain of its future options and policies after Eastern Europeans liberated themselves. Washington had put pressure on the Soviet system for decades, with some respite during the period of détente. But it was the Europeans, specifically the people on the streets of Eastern Europe, who lifted the ‘iron curtain’. Events moved rapidly. Throughout, Washington seemed somewhat bewildered at the pace, and struggled to present a coherent reaction. More fundamentally, given that the Cold War tensions had produced greater cohesion within the Western Alliance, with the collapsing East, Washington worried about the future cohesion and direction of the West. It also worried about its future ‘leadership’ of West Europeans, and its influence in the East. Suddenly US national interests were presented with further opportunities and threats. The Cold War framework, which produced a certain kind of stability and security, was passing. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union enhanced the ideologies Washington ostensibly promoted, and provided further opportunities for expanding the Western economic sphere. But Washington had to tread carefully to ensure it remained influential in key issues. Specifically, it had to have a voice in the rapid process of German reunification. As Soviet power disintegrated, Washington had legitimate security concerns with the collapsed empire and the distribution of force, and specifically of nuclear materials to the various independent states. At the same time, Washington could not take West Europeans for granted. They had agendas of their own. Primarily they sought to widen and deepen the scope of the European Union, and pursued options that did not always accord with Washington’s interests. But as the 1990s progressed, the influential theories of US decline during the late 1980s gave way under a booming US economy. And as conflict broke out in the Balkans, Washington asserted its power in the face of European indecision. Simultaneously, the transatlantic framework extended into Central Europe as NATO expanded and engaged in its first out-of-area action in Yugoslavia.
