Europe Between the Superpowers: an All-European Model for the End of the 20th Century

Abstract

The focus of this article is systemic change in Europe: structural transformation which affects East-West relations at four levels: Atlantic, Western European, Eastern European, and all-European. The durability of the present status of Europe split between the two superpowers is drawn into question. Dynamic processes in the context of a widespread desire for a new 'political Europe', particularly in terms of 'historical normalization' between Western and Eastern Europe (excluding the Soviet Union as a separate entity) will contribute to structural change in European-American and European-Soviet relations. The ideal of a restructured 'organic' Europe is seen as especially prominent among the 'successor generation' in Western as well as in Eastern Europe. The process of systemic transformation is discussed in terms of three models: strictly 'bipolar' Europe in the 1950s, the considerably altered situation in the early 1980s, and a 'prescriptive' all-European model for the end of the 20th century, as a viable 'structure of peace'. Key concepts in these models are 'balance' and 'symmetry'.