Democracy without Security

Abstract

Instability in Central and Eastern Europe, especially southeastern Europe, has been the casus belli of two world wars as well as other smaller wars — the fate of Yugoslavia providing the most striking present example. Yet no security guarantee of either a unilateral or a collective nature exists for these countries in the post-Cold. War period, beyond those of the UN Charter. There may be agreement on paper that the security of Western Europe is ‘inseparably linked’ to that of other European countries, but in practical terms deeds do not match words. If historical comparisons are at all appropriate, the West seems to be seeking a new brand of containment. But this time it is not incipient communism that is the menace; it is the turmoil of Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe that has to be contained.