The imaginary war : understanding the East-West conflict

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The imaginary war : understanding the East-West conflict

Mary Kaldor

B. Blackwell, 1990

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The division of Europe has been a dominating feature of the international political order for 40 years. Now all is changing as established political alignments crumble and new social and political movements gain ground and, in some cases, even come to power. This book explains the background to these dramatic changes in the international system. The author presents an alternative account of the Cold War, arguing that what has been experienced in Europe since the war cannot be described as peace, but rather as a state of imaginary war, where "deterrence" is not a mechanism for avoiding war, but a means to sustain the political hegemony of the US and the USSR. The author aims to demonstrate the profound effect the imaginary war has had on patterns of social and economic development in Europe, limiting them to models provided by the two superpowers. She goes on to examine the prospects and choices for the future including the need for demilitarization, East-West cooperation, an increased self-determination, and the important role of social movements on such issues as the environment, peace, women and human rights.

Table of Contents

  • Part 1 Argument and method: introduction
  • states and blocs. Part 2 The cold war: the debate about the origins of the cold war
  • stalinism and East-Central Europe
  • the making of Atlanticism
  • is there an East-West conflict?. Part 3 Detente and new cold war: differing conceptions of detente
  • reform and "normalization" in post-stalinist societies
  • the erosion of Atlanticism
  • why did detente fail?. Part 4 The military confrontation: imagined strategies
  • real resources
  • beyond detente?.

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