Edited sentence: A new European Union and incipient Asian coalitions evolved as the Soviet Union's old hegemony devolved.Something of the kind was pursued, however, by the postwar western powers, especially the United States, which waged a cold war of propaganda against perceived Soviet imperialism.The latter campaign eventually culminated in the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 amid irresistible economic, cultural and nationalist stresses and within a broader context of international anti-imperialism