Reinventing Brussels: Urban Profiles of Ideology, Power and Politics

Abstract

With the waning of bipolar international relations because of the demise of the former Soviet Union, a new world order is emerging in which, certain once thought unassailable, political and economic regimes in Central and Eastern Europe have come under scrutiny and are being swept away. Whereas, Europe in whole as a fragmented polity and economy appeared to be taking the back seat to the superpowers, Japan and the rapidly growing economies of the Pacific rim basin, it is today the most politically dynamic region in the world and once again an increasingly influential one. The dynamism of New Europe stems from a set of schemes of regional cooperation forged in the 1950s, originally, the European Coal and Steel Community, and eventually the European Community. Having learned a bitter lesson from the Treaty of Versailles on post-war reconstruction, European nations focused this time on conciliation, cooperation and interdependence as safeguards of their peace and prosperity. Brussels, the capital of Belgium, has become synonymous with this effort.