Rethinking European Order : West European Responses, 1989-1997

by Niblett, Robin

• ISBN13: 9780333915714
• ISBN10: 0333915712
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2001-03-07
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The collapse of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe, between 1989 and 1991, transformed Europe's international politics. But it proved far easier to dismantle the iron curtain than to clear away the entrenched assumptions of political leaders and foreign policy advisors across Western Europe. Contributors to this volume trace the slow and often painful adjustment of national foreign policies to the unification of Germany, the hopeful demands of ex-socialist regimes to "rejoin the West", and the need to redefine NATO and the European Community.

Author Biography

Robin Niblett is Vice President and Senior Fellow, European Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC.

William Wallace is Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
List of Abbreviations	xi
Notes on the Contributors	xiii
Maps	xiv
Rethinking European Order: West European Responses, 1987-97 - Introduction	1	(26)
William Wallace
Reformulating order in Europe: the intellectual context	4	(5)
Patterns of transition between European orders	9	(4)
The world we have lost	13	(6)
International order and economic and social change	19	(2)
The old European agenda and the new	21	(6)
Concepts of European Order after the Cold War: In with the Old, Out with the New	27	(31)
Anthony Forster
Robin Niblett
The search for new security arrangements	28	(7)
The process of European integration	35	(7)
Redrawing the boundaries of European order	42	(9)
Conclusion	51	(7)
Central Power, Central Debate? The German Foreign Policy Community and the Rethinking of European Order	58	(31)
Hartmut Mayer
German reactions 1989 to 1991: change through continuity	60	(4)
Rethinking Germany's role in Europe 1992-94	64	(4)
The intellectual debate on European order: options and schools of thought	68	(6)
1994-97: `flexibility' as the German `Gesamtkonzept' for a new European order	74	(6)
Conclusion	80	(9)
France and Europe at the end of the Cold War: Resisting Change	89	(35)
Robin Niblett
Introduction	89	(2)
The Mitterrand vision	91	(6)
The Maastricht ratification debate	97	(3)
Transformation and continuity in the French approach to European order: sources of the new pragmatism, 1993-96	100	(3)
Pragmatism in practice	103	(5)
Contradictions	108	(4)
La Deception	112	(1)
The Socialists return to government: new bottle, old wine	113	(3)
Conclusion	116	(8)
The British Response: Denial and Confusion?	124	(28)
Anthony Forster
William Wallace
Introduction	124	(1)
Foreign policy before the Wall came down	125	(6)
The twilight of the Thatcher government	131	(3)
The Major government: pragmatic adjustment and ideological inhibitions	134	(5)
After Maastricht: drift or direction?	139	(5)
The failure to adjust	144	(8)
Coming to Terms with Germany: the Slow and Arduous Adjustment of Dutch Foreign Policy after 1989	152	(30)
Steven Everts
Introduction	152	(1)
Dutch foreign policy before 1989: the orthodoxies of Atlanticism and European federalism	153	(4)
The first phase: more of the same	157	(4)
The rejection of the Dutch proposals for a federal Europe on `Black Monday': a pivotal event	161	(4)
The second phase, 1993-97: the relaxation of the twin orthodoxies	165	(9)
Conclusion	174	(8)
An End to Neutrality? Continuity and Change in Swedish Foreign Policy	182	(25)
Lisbeth Aggestam
Introduction	182	(1)
`The roots of Swedish neutrality'	182	(4)
Continuity and change	186	(7)
Images of a pan-European order	193	(7)
At the crossroads	200	(7)
Spain and European Order after the Cold War	207	(35)
Robin Niblett
Introduction	207	(1)
Committed Europeans	208	(2)
Challenges for Spain at the end of the cold war	210	(2)
A strong domestic political base	212	(2)
Opportunities for progress; 1989-92	214	(3)
Holding course through the storm: 1992-96	217	(2)
Sticking to the mainstream	219	(3)
Preparing for Europe's transition	222	(2)
Spain as a new Atlantic power	224	(2)
Economic convergence: the central dilemma	226	(3)
Conclusion: a consistent approach to Europe	229	(13)
Struggling to Change: the Italian State and the New Order	242	(26)
Christopher Hill
Filippo Andreatta
Introduction	242	(3)
Two levels of change: the entanglement of domestic and international politics	245	(4)
The search for adaptation	249	(3)
The strategy of active multilateralism	252	(6)
The epistemic community	258	(5)
Conclusions	263	(5)
Conclusions: Stragegic Change and Incremental Adjustment	268	(20)
William Wallace
Whose Europe, whose transformation?	270	(3)
Economic interests, strategic concerns	273	(2)
The Western institutional and political acquis	275	(3)
Leadership and followership	278	(4)
The dominance of domestic politics	282	(1)
Insiders and outsiders	283	(5)
Index	288