New Eastern Europe Magazine

If the past year has shown us anything, it is that the world order many of us took for granted is no longer secure. The basic rules and understandings that kept Europe stable, held the United States and Europe together, and guided cooperation between countries for decades are now being openly questioned, not only by ambitious powers like Russia and China, but increasingly by voices inside the West itself.
The belief that international law can keep power in check is now competing with a harsher view of the world – one in which strength decides what is right, big countries carve out zones of control, and powerful states impose their will on others. For Europe, this is not a distant or academic argument. It is a matter of survival. As our cover image suggests, Europa can no longer allow herself to be carried along by a raging bull. She must find a way to climb down – and learn to stand firmly on her own feet.
Thus, on the pages of this issue, we look at what this growing instability means for Europe. Is this really the breakdown of the security system that has protected the continent for decades, as Wojciech Michnik asks? Or are we facing something even more profound – a shift towards a more divided and unpredictable global landscape, as Andreas Umland suggests?