The Rebirth of Europe
by By Pond, Elizabeth
Category: Political Science , International Relations , General

The rejuvenation of Europe as a totalitarian century ends and a global century begins is a remarkable story. This book brings together the three dynamics of Europe's position at this extraordinary moment: European monetary union, the deepening of intra-EU cooperation, and the widening of the EU and NATO to take in central European members. It looks at the broad political and policy implications of EMU and shows how the United States views this integration. Elizabeth Pond, a longtime observer of events in Europe and Russia, sees these developments as the beginning of a new postnational European system that is replacing the centuries-old nation-state system. She shows how belligerence and anarchy have faded away on the European continent as compulsory cold war cooperation becomes a habit and as French-German reconciliation becomes the pattern for reconciliation between other old enemies. She follows NATO's transformation into a reluctant peacemaker in Bosnia and the United States' decision to remain a European power. She describes the leap of faith needed to create European monetary union and charts the magnetic attraction of both NATO and the EU in shaping the democratic, economic, and social revolutions in central Europe. She warns about the strains that will face the transatlantic relationship when the euro is on a par with the dollar as a reserve currency. And she concludes by agreeing with former Polish foreign minister Wladyslaw Barteszewski that we are witnessing, after the original birth of European consciousness a millennium ago, the rebirth of Europe.