Beyond Containment and Division Western Cooperation from a Post-Totalitarian Perspective

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The collapse of the totalitarian system and the disintegration of the Soviet Union took the West by complete surprise. For many years Western cooperation and West European integration proceeded on the assumption that the division of Europe and Germany would be there to stay. As a consequence, the Western states are now having great difficulties in adapting their cooperative arrangements to the challenges of a new European environment, and in coping with the political problems that had been swept under the carpet for the sake of preserving bipolar stability'. In his new book, Alting von Geusau offers a fresh and timely analysis of Western cooperation from a post-totalitarian perspective. He reminds the reader of America's involvement and the tragic consequences of the two world wars. He explains why the order of Yalta' was a myth and how the Soviet designs for Europe were ultimately defeated by civil resistance. Post-war American leadership created the free space for the remarkable growth of Western organisations and the dynamics of European integration. American and French policies of containment are reexamined for the same post-t