1. The Uncertain International Framework after the Cold War
   The collapse of the Soviet Union and other Communist regimes in Europe led to increasing fragmentation in the "West" and ethnic conflict in the former Soviet empire. Without the unifying threat of Soviet Communism tensions grew between European states and the United States.
   1. New Power Relationships in the West
      Europe's ties to NATO remained, as the organization itself expanded to include former Soviet bloc countries, while Germany sought to allay fears about its reunification.
   2. The European Union
      The Maastricht agreement of 1992 put greater emphasis on currency integration and closer political ties, despite the concerns of France and Britain.
   3. Ethnic Conflict and Peacekeeping Roles
      The end of the cold war led to ethnic conflict and agitation in Europe, most devastatingly in Yugoslavia, where NATO intervention in 1996 and 1999 finally stopped large-scale armed conflict.
   4. Responding to Global Terrorism
      Terrorist attacks by nationalists in Northern Ireland and the Basque region of Spain, by American white supremacists, and by the militant Islamic group al-Qaeda rocked Europe and the United States in the late 1990s and the first years of the new millennium. Following the al-Qaeda attacks on the Word Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime there that provided support for al-Qaeda.
   5. The Controversial Iraq War of 2003
      In 2003 the United States invaded Iraq, as the Bush administration claimed dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and close ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Opposition to the invasion was intense in the United States and internationally. US and British forces, aided by other allies, overthrew Hussein and occupied Iraq.
2. Economy and the Political Order in the Mature Democracies
   1. The Postcommunist Experiment
      Transition to market economies proved difficult in the postcommunist states of Europe. In Russia in particular crime skyrocketed, the economy nearly collapsed, and civil war broke out in the breakaway region of Chechnya.
   2. The Changing Socioeconomic Framework
      New technologies brought prosperity but reinforced the decline of organized labor, as it became clear that two models of capitalism--U.S. and continental--were in competition.
   3. Rethinking the Welfare State
      Economic strains led many Europeans to question the welfare state, while Margaret Thatcher launched a dramatic assault on it in Britain. By the first years of the 21st century reform of expensive pension systems was on the agenda in many European states.
   4. Left, Right, and the Democratic Consensus
      Democratic capitalism rested on broad and solid support, but the identities of socialism and conservatism changed in the midst of questions about the quality of democracy. The collapse of the USSR and problems with funding welfare states led to the rise of a "new right" in the mid-1990s in Europe.
3. Lifestyles and Identities in the West
   A secular, consumerist society, with ever-greater egalitarianism, affluence, and choice, was a defining aspect of the West, attracting increased immigration of non-Westerners.
   1. Family Life and Gender Roles
      By the late 1960s the feminist movement went beyond advocating equal legal status for women to exposing and eliminating more subtle cultural barriers to women's equality. Women's entry into the workforce in large numbers in the West combined with other economic changes created a demand for childcare. In France and other European states the government moved to provide this.
   2. Economic Growth and Environmental Concerns Rapidly increasing use of automobiles and industrial expansion led to rising air and water pollution in Europe.
   3. Religious Identities
      In Europe church attendance declined dramatically from the 1950s onward.
   4. Immigration, Assimilation, and Citizenship
      High unemployment, "guest worker" programs, and social welfare costs combined with racist attitudes to heighten anti-immigrant attitudes and legislation throughout Europe. At the same time many European states moved aggressively to encourage immigrants to assimilate to the dominant national culture.
   5. Supranational, National, and Subnational Identities
      Even as national identities in much of Europe weakened and subnational identities in distinctive European regions strengthened, Europeans worried about keeping their distinctiveness in the face of "Americanization."
4. The West in a Global Age
   A planetary culture, a threatened environment, an interdependent economy, and an increasing sense of international responsibility created a new context for the industrialized countries of the West.
   1. Uniformity and Diversity in the "Global Village"
      A sense of world interdependence and cultural convergence sits uneasily with the growing awareness of tension between industrialized nations and the rest of the world.
   2. The "North-South Divide" and Mutual Interdependence
      As Japan and other Pacific Rim states became more prosperous, the dominant division in the world changed from "the West and the rest" to "North-South." The South became even more poor as populations expanded and limited aid efforts from wealthy states did little to help.
   3. The Controversy over Economic Globalization
      As many Western corporations shifted jobs to areas of the world with cheaper labor, such as Eastern Europe and "the South," protest movements developed in Europe and North America against exploitation of labor and globalization. Between 1999 and 2003 meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, viewed by many as agents of globalization, were disrupted by mass protests.
   4. The Question of Global Responsibility
      A real but amorphous sense of responsibility to the "international community," embodied by the United Nations, often conflicted with traditions of national sovereignty.
   5. Old and New, Modern and Beyond
      Europe's uneasy, ambiguous, and ironic relationship to its own past in the late twentieth century found expression in postmodernism and neoexpressionism.
5. The Uncertain Meaning of the West
   After the collapse of the Soviet Union tensions between the United States and Europe rose as the US chose to act more unilaterally than during the Cold War.
   1. The United States, Europe, and the West
      The US model of a capitalist democratic system, oriented on unfettered markets, competed with a continental European model providing greater social security at government expense and more government intervention in markets. During the 1990s the US economic boom caused many in Europe to question the viability of the European "social market economy."
   2. US Unilateralism
      Some Europeans began to perceive US power as dangerous in the late 1990s and after as the US acted unilaterally in refusing to join the international court at the Hague, refusing to sign on to the Kyoto Protocols for reducing greenhouse gases causing global warming, and invading Iraq in 2003.
   3. What Had the West Come to Mean?
      Western triumphalism following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 faded as the new Russian market economy faltered and the US economic boom of the 1990s ended in a series of financial scandals.
6. Conclusion: Learning from Western Civilization in a Global Age
   The long-standing belief in a superior model of European civilization gave way to new critiques from global, multicultural, and postmodern perspectives.