Article Preview
Western Europe in Collapse:
The Problem of Survival In A World of Super-States
- Abstract
The collapse of Western Europe as a decisive international factor, now seen to be an astonishingly persistent postwar condition, has come about on so grandiose a scale that it is difficult to avoid falling into bombastic hyper-generalization to describe it. Diffuse and flaccid statements concerning it have become the stock in trade of every commentator, and a pathetic remark of Arnold Toynbee’s about the dwarfing of the former European world powers by the emergence of the monster super-states is now a commonplace.
The banality of the observation may be depressing, but it is present in the consciousness of all those dealing both professionally and amateurishly with politics everywhere in Europe. All programs designed to overcome the blatant inferiority of those dwarfed European states can only hope to do so by submerging them in another monster state that would be capable of competing with the paramount powers of the postwar world.
About the Author
This article is available for purchase to subscribers and for individual purchase
Subscriber Sign In
Not A Subscriber?
