Abstract

The Triumph of Euroamericanism

Western Europe is looking into an uncertain future. The German election, which was supposed to clear the horizon, has really obstructed the view. True, leader Helmut Kohl did get his fourth mandate, as tactical switching by some of his Christian Democrat supporters enabled his allies, the Free Democrats, to clear the 5 percent barrier. But a recovery by the Social Democrats, a return to the Bundestag of the Greens and a spectacular debut in Berlin of an ex communist agriculture and development aid, they may spend a long time in the waiting room. The sharp increase in the European Union's membership, if unaccompanied by a strengthening of its institutions, will turn it into a sort of loose free-trade area, an aim that the British, backed by the people in the United States, always had in mind.