Ukraine: A New Factor on the European Security Scene

The demise of the Warsaw Pact, the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia, and the end of communist rule in virtually the whole of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have drastically altered the security context in Europe. No longer, for example, do two hostile blocs confront each other over an ideological divide. The proliferation of independent states in the eastern portions of the continent has created many new actors there with varied experiences and with a firm desire to chart their own courses in international affairs. Moreover, Western political and economic ideas have penetrated widely within these areas and have formed the basis for expanded and complex interaction across the old divide.