East European security after the Cold War

Eastern Europe's security environment has become increasingly uncertain and unstable since 1989. What has transpired in Eastern Europe with the disintegration of the former USSR, the crisis in Yugoslavia, and the breakup on Czechoslovakia is the unraveling of the political arrangements established after World War I.A host of new ethnic and territorial issues has resulted that could seriously destabilize Eastern Europe and undermine efforts to create a stable, new security order in Europe. This study focuses on the external dimensions of security in Eastern Europe, as follows: current East European security and threat perceptions; attitudes and policy toward NATO and East European prospects for NATO membership; Eastern Europe's evolving relations with the European Community and the Western European Union; efforts at regional and subregional cooperation; Germany's role in Eastern Europe; France's policy toward Eastern Europe; Russia's policy and future role in the region; the implications for U.S. policy; and the issue of U.S. leadership.