The Emerging Europe of the 1990s

Democratic movements in Eastern Europe and the economic integration of the European Community are fundamentally changing the economic, social, and political map of Europe. Germany will play a crucial role but faces significant problems associated with reunification. Close political and economic ties are likely to emerge between northern countries in Eastern Europe and their neighbors to the west, which may exacerbate regional disparities in East and West alike. Substate regional economic and ethnic problems will become increasingly important. Environmental degradation will be a major issue, and upgrading of housing stock and industrial infrastructure in Eastern Europe will require significant investment. Efforts to confront the problems of poor regions in both Eastern and Western Europe must build on local expertise and resources if environmental problems and social unrest are to be avoided. THE pace of political and economic changes in Europe during the past two years has been nothing short of astonishing. At the beginning of 1989 almost no one thought of German reunification as more than a remote possibility, and virtually everyone thought that political, social, and economic liberalization would, at best, come gradually. Attention was directed to the movement toward greater integration in the European Community, but the primary focus was on economic changes within the twelve member countries and the implications of those changes for the global economic position of the Community. However, with the rapid rise of powerful democratic movements in many Eastern European countries, the swift pace of German reunification, and the greatly expanded political and economic role of the European Community, old assumptions are quickly being jettisoned. The challenge of assessing the recent changes in Europe is formidable, because many of the most important developments are still unfolding. In view of the general failure to foresee even the broad outlines of the changes since early 1989, any attempt to predict their future direction seems either imprudent or audacious. Yet rarely has an understanding of regional change been more important. A geographical perspective is essential in this effort, * DR. MURPHY is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1251. Copyright ? 1991 by the American Geographical Society of New York This content downloaded from 157.55.39.4 on Sat, 10 Sep 2016 05:20:57 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW because such an outlook draws attention to the ways in which the economic, social, and political map of Europe is evolving. In this article I examine some general features of the emerging European social and political landscape by focusing on three related geographical concepts: location, regionalism, and environment. As the changes under way are vast and complex, my approach is necessarily general and selective, and my coverage excludes the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, I provide an analysis of the evolving European scene and suggest some important topics for future research. RELATIVE LOCATION AND CHANGING ECONOMIC ORDER One of the defining features of the post-World War II era has been the conceptual and functional division of Europe into eastern and western blocs. The Iron Curtain has been more than an ideological divide; it has demarcated spheres of economic and social interaction. Western European countries trade primarily with one another, and the boundary between East and West is easily discernible on any map showing transportation and communications linkages across Europe. The functional discontinuities between the two blocs have been reinforced by the emergence of regional trading groups, especially the European Community and the European Free Trade Association in the West and the Council for Economic Assistance in the East. This regional division of Europe does not have deep historical roots. Before World War II, Germany had close economic ties with countries to the east, especially Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary (Basch 1943). The legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still was evident in the links between Austria and its eastern neighbors, and the Italian port of Trieste was an important transshipment point for goods from West and East alike. The boundary that came to separate Eastern and Western Europe also had little cultural significance. It did not reflect patterns of religious affiliation or historical contact. In the German case, it even divided immediate families. The imposition of a relatively impermeable boundary between East and West profoundly altered patterns of economic and social interaction. Cities and regions formerly at the center of major zones of economic activity came to occupy peripheral locations (Ritter and Hajdu 1989). Vienna, Berlin, and Trieste, which had been positioned to take advantage of convergent patterns of trade, found themselves at the margins of newly emerging economic regions. The entire length of the boundary between East and West became a zone of stagnation. The regions deemed sufficiently disadvantaged to be eligible for developmental assistance from the European Community in West Germany lie primarily along its border with East Germany and Czechoslovakia (Fig. 1). Now that the Iron Curtain is beginning to lose its significance, shifting economic and social patterns in Europe may once again alter the relationships of cities and regions to major flows of people, goods, and ideas. Particularly 2 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.4 on Sat, 10 Sep 2016 05:20:57 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms EMERGING EUROPE 1990S