The Security Route to Europe: The Visegrad Four
By Paul Latawski18 Jun 2004
The collapse of communism in the eastern half of Europe eradicated all the old reference points of European security. The revolution of 1989, German unity in 1990, dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation and the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991 swept away the old border markers of the bipolar security order constructed at the height of the Cold War. For Central and Eastern Europe, these changes brought not only liberation from a totalitarian imperium but also the uncomfortable reality of a security vacuum. In contrast, to the former communist east, the Western security status quo was changed little. Western security institutions forget in the heat of the East-West confrontation survived intact. Thus the end of Cold War certainties did not automatically lead to the healing of the division of Europe. Instead a new rift line developed between those states continuing to enjoy the benefits of proven and stable security structures and those cast into the security void.
Copyright © 2008 RUSI
