of the European democratic community must be expanded to include the myriad of new developments on the continent, including how to nurture the spawning new democracies in former Eastern bloc countries. This reevaluation must include an assessment of the new role that the United States is willing to play in the alliance.
In late 1989, NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner declared that the alliance's primary purpose in European international politics is "to promote a peaceful and stable transition to a post-Cold War world."I NATO has since attempted to pursue that goal through the absorption of Eastern Germany into the alliance and a reformulation of military and political strategies. Thus far, NATO has proclaimed its intention for a limited partnership with Eastern and Central Europe and its military tactics have been revised to emphasize quick responses to smaller conflict situations rather than responding to full-scale wars
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