The Burdens of Freedom: Eastern Europe since 1989
* Acknowledgements * Maps * Introduction: The Shock of the New * 1. Different Paths on an Open Road: Economic and Social Change * 2. In Praise of Ethnic Cleansing? National Struggles * 3. Peeling the Past: Nostalgia and Punishment * 4. Portraits in Hubris: Democratic Politics * 5. A New Europe: The East in the West * Conclusion: The Edge of History * Notes * Index
1989 and Post-Cold War Policymaking: Were the “Wrong” Lessons Learned from the Fall of Communism?
Twenty years after the events of 1989, most American academics and policymakers continue to see the end of the Cold War as a victory for the United States. This Cold War “triumphalism” is based on a number of assumptions which have, in turn, served as important framing devices for US foreign policy. This chapter argues that the “wrong lessons” were learned from the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. These lessons were based on a misreading of both Cold War history, in general, and its endgame, more specifically. This chapter outlines ten such lessons and explores the ways in which they were used to legitimate policies of regime change from above after 9/11. In this way, we can see a direct line between Berlin in 1989 and Baghdad in 2003, one driven by the hubris of both US policymakers and intellectuals.
Detente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations From Nixon to Reagan . By Garthoff Raymond L.. (Washington: The Brookings Institution, 1985. Pp. xviii + 1147. $39.95, cloth; $16.95, paper.)
conclusively that Canadians know much more about the United States than U.S. residents know about Canada. Nonetheless, it is disturbing to find that so many Canadian scholars and government officials have such generalized and sweeping notions about the policy-making process in the U.S. (see pp. 66-68, 83). Apparently, few make an honest effort to grasp the complex nature of relations between the executive and legislative branches in Washington, or the impact which federalism, bureaucratic in-fighting, and electoral pressures can have on the resolution of such pressing issues as acid rain and liberalized trade. When this tendency among certain key officials and the attentive public north of the border is combined with the general ignorance and lack of awareness about Canada which is so pervasive south of the 49th parallel, one worries at times about the ability of the two governments to cope with a very extensive and extremely complex bilateral policy agenda.