Suggesting that events in Poland during 1980–1981 represent the tip of an iceberg, the contributors examine the rise of nationalism in Eastern Europe and its potential consequences for European security. They analyze developing problems and trends in the region, including the cooling of relations between the USSR and individual countries in Eastern Europe, the continuing economic crisis, changing social structures, the influence of the intelligentsia, and the eroding importance of ideology as a key part of Eastern Europe's political culture. The second half of the book focuses on the impact of these shifts on political and military relations between the USSR and Eastern European countries and on the efficient functioning of the Warsaw Pact.

The document discusses two main classes of diplomatic and strategic surprise, described as true surprises and those which reflect failures of analysis and anticipation. Today East-West relations in Europe are jeopardized by several important forces of change which imply a deepening, perhaps eventually decisive, alteration in the configuration of power dominating the strategic and poticical situation in Europe. The immediate future in Eastern Europe is likely to produce more important 'surprising' changes and crises than at any time since the mid-1950's. Standard U.S. scenarios for European crisis, confrontation, and change seem no longer relevant. For the United States to exploit surprising events in order to bring about positive and consturctive change there must be American (and NATO) policy goals for Eastern and Central Europe which are themselves positive, politically responsible, and potentially attainable. This problem will become acute since a European Security Conference is likely in the near future. (Author).

This title was first published in 2002. This rich comparative analysis looks at security policy reorientation in four European states located at the periphery of the European continent. During the post-Cold War period, Greece, Bulgaria, Sweden and Finland conducted a security policy that was heavily influenced by their close proximity to the iron curtain . Probing this transition during a decisive phase of the post-Cold War reconstitution of the wider European security order, the author analyzes national security policy making from the standpoints of three international relations traditions - realism, institutionalism and political anthropology. This engaging work is invaluable for students, scholars and policy analysts working in the field of international relations and European politics.

Dotyczy m. in. Polski.