A few days after the EU summit to discuss Russia’s aggression in Georgia, debate across Europe is dividing into two camps. Not between those who back Russia and those who are baying for conflict, although this dividing line exists and is well-reported. The real division is over the meaning of the war for the future of European politics – and it’s likely to be even more aggressively contested.
On the on hand, there are those who believe that this summer’s crisis is a political earthquake, signifying – finally – the end of the 1990s and many of the tenets upon which Europe built its post-Cold War world: continued (if slow) enlargement of the bloc; a free hand in assisting the countries in the EU’s broader neighbourhood; and the gradual promotion of a rules-based, post-modern way of European politics.
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