Europe and the Reagan Years

The 1980s have been a good decade for the West. For the United States and for Europe alike they have been years of growing prosperity, reassurance and stability. The 1960s were a decade of illusion and baseless fantasies of utopia; the 1970s were a decade of disillusion, shattered hopes and rising fears. The 1980s have been a decade of realism, in which the affairs of the world, and of the West in particular, have been placed on a firmer, more concrete foundation.

These years have been marked, above all, by a return of confidence in the disciplines and rewards of