In this short piece I shall briefly address two rather large points. First, I shall discuss the question of whether, if the Cold War is over, this is likely to result in a more peaceful world. The role of Eastern Europe will be of particular interest in this context. Second, I shall comment on the effects the end of the Cold War will have on that apparently most burning of political questions, certainly in the United States but not only there: Will the United States remain Number One in the post-Cold War era? U.S.-(Western) European reations will be crucial here.

If the Cold War is defined as a very antagonistic relationship between two blocs, East and West, where the antagonism is at least in part based on irreconcilable ideological differences, then it is surely over. The basic change took place in the mid-1980s. In the course of a few years, Ronald Reagan went from denunciations of “the evil empire” to walking hand in hand with Mikhail Gorbachev in Red Square. The Soviet leader was pronounced the statesman not only of the year but also of the decade. The shift in American attitudes was only surpassed by that of the other side. Under the old system, Reagan had been described in the crudest of terms; under Gorbachev the Soviet caricature of the American president changed from “Rambo to Mister Rogers.” The euphoria is now gone, but so is the old antagonism. Second, with the Communist party and economic planning now discredited and democracy and the market rapidly advancing in the former Soviet Union, the ideological chasm has also been greatly reduced.