Which promises of the end of the Cold War have been fulfilled?

Dr Laurien Crump (History of International Relations) writes about the fall of the Berlin Wall in Clingendael Spectator. Which promises of the end of the Cold War have been fulfilled?

"The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 is mostly identified as the end of the Cold War", Crump states. In the period that followed, the American goverment put its mark on the future of Europe and the role that Russia would play in it.

New Cold War?

"The interests of NATO, the European Union and Russia are hard to reconcile, especially when the Russia feels completely eclipsed by the two –originally western European– international organisations. However, it would be too simplistic to mark the resulting situation as a 'new Cold War'. Partially because the Cold War was much more complex; the symmetry between the two great powers that was central in the Cold War is now conspicuous by its absence."

While there is no clear position for Russia, the sting cannot be taken out of the Cold War.

Building a new Europe together

"The most fundamental problem since the end of the Cold War is not Germany's position –as it has been reunified–, but the position of Russia. While there is no clear position for Russia, the sting cannot be taken out of the Cold War. It is time that the OSCE member states, including Russia, together start building a new Europe, which has never reached its maturity", Crump concludes.

Laurien Crump 

Laurien Crump is a historian affiliated to Institutions for Open Societies, an interdisciplinary research area of Utrecht University, focussed on the development of healthy open societies, anywhere in the world. Laurien is also a member of the Utrecht Young Academy, where she has contributed to the lecture series After the Fall of the Wall.