The shock waves of whathappened in 1989 and after helped make the 1990s a peculiarly interesting decade,and while all periods in history are by definition special, there was somethingvery special indeed about the years following the collapse of the socialistproject in the former USSR and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, this has not beenreflected in the theoretical literature. Thus although there have been many bookson the end of the Cold War, even more onthe ‘new’ history of the Cold War itself, and several on the current state of internationalrelations after the ‘fall’, there has been relatively little work done so far on thelandscape of the new international system in formation. Moreover, while therehave been several post-Cold War controversies and debates—we think here ofFukuyama's attempt to theorize the end of history,Mearsheimer's realist reflections on the coming disorder in Europe, the various attempts to define the Americanmission without a Soviet enemy, and Huntington's prediction about a coming clash ofcivilizations—not much serious effort has been made to bringthese various discussions together in one single volume.