| The endings of the Cold War were marked by surprise, from Reykjavik to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Emphasizing the initial sense of surprise, which has been largely forgotten in the rush to explain these changes, I ask a series of 'how possible' questions about the endings of the Cold War. Given the irregularities, attention to the details and the criteria for 'describing' this context of change is imperative. In Chapter One I develop an argument regarding the need for a 'thick' description of the ends of the Cold War, contrasting this way of proceeding with existing procedures based on a natural science model. In Chapter Two a meta-theoretical perspective on the relationship between language and reality, drawing on several themes from Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, is developed as a basis for a methodology. Chapter Three demonstrates and applies a methodology for tracing change, a methodology by which the detail of 'thick' description is not selected, ignored or structured by the categories of a theory but rather excavated from a context of action. In Chapter Four, the description is deepened in an analysis of the transformation of language games related to security in both East and West. In Chapter Five the plausibility of arguments that the 'West won' the Cold War is analyzed, against the background of the broader context of change constructed in this thick description. The central role of 'civil society' as a critical positioning in both East and West vis a vis state practice within the Cold War highlights the problem with explaining these changes in terms of traditional models of state action. In ending, I briefly analyze the last 'remnant' of the Cold War, that is, NATO, as questions are raised about its possible collapse. |
