Structure, Order, and Disorder in World Politics

Almost a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Soviet Union, and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the international community faces challenges for which there are neither theoretical explanations nor practical solutions at hand. Structures and frameworks of order are elements that are relevant for domestic politics and international relations. Stability among states will only be possible if the foreign policies of states and groups of states are shaped in accordance with such frameworks. After World War II, it was the United States that conducted this kind of international politics of order and thereby created the international post-war security architecture. The Euro-American relationship will be one of the most important frameworks of order and peace in the future. Other frames, such as the European Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), a revived WEU, a common European defense identity, or cooperations such as the one in the Baltic Sea region, can at best be parts of or additions to an international framework of order, which, in turn, is based on the politics of stability and the principle of self-determination.