The Shape Of The New Europe

In the flood of "whither Europe" books-what will the newly united, newly challenged Europe be like-this collection of essays stands out, not least by the stature of its well-known contributors. Helen Wallace begins the volume with questions concerning the likely structures that might accommodate a Europe that was preparing for the leap to a single market and beyond-and that since 1989-90 faces an impoverished, liberated eastern Europe and the successor states to the U.S.S.R. Will the EC go forward, and if so, how and for whom and with what associated organizations? François Heisbourg deals with the prospects of a new European security system. And Stanley Hoffmann discusses the possible political arrangements for the new Europe. Along with the other authors Hoffmann probes the implications of all this for the United States, and the implications of a domestically weakened and preoccupied America for Europe. In a characteristic, if slightly mischievous, formulation, he writes: "Washington would like its partners to speak in a single voice, as long as they repeat what the United States tells them."