Old and new security issues in post-communist eastern Europe: Results of an 11 nation study

The re-alignment of post-Cold War politics has meant a re-alignment of theories of international relations and security studies. The positions associated with 'realist', state-centred conceptions started to give way to a broader definition of security which could include a range of issues, including those such as economic, environmental and societal threats. In other words, there is a decline in the emphasis on state needs and an increase in the emphasis on human needs. For the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the many economic, political, environmental and social problems encountered during the transition from communism could be said to have overshadowed the problem of focusing upon one external enemy. The problem is that of a confusion of ideas the lack of order and the plethora of competing political parties which have only just started to align themselves into recognisable blocks. These fears were further fuelled by the war in Yugoslavia and by the growing instability in Russia. In addition to these threats, the unification of Germany with its new capital in Berlin represents for many in Eastern and Central Europe the re-emergence of a threat which had been neutralised by the Cold War.