Going into the 1960s, it appeared that Europe had reached a political “consensus,” offering political and social stability to the region as living standards rose and the Cold War tensions between nations relaxed. However, this image was shattered as certainties were protested by counterculture leaders, economic growth stopped, conservative politicians changed the course of the welfare state, and movements formed on all sides of the political spectrum. At the same time, revolutions in East Bloc nations broke down the Communist order there, and Europe started to seem as unstable as ever before.
Chapter Objective: To understand the changes that occurred in Europe in the final decades of and following the Cold War, as well as their causes and the lasting effects they have had on the world.
EQ: What were some of the major causes of the counterculture movement that emerged in Europe?
For the most part, counterculture in Europe followed the movement in the United States. The “baby boom” following World War II had caused a much larger ratio of young people to older people, and this great number of young people had become teenagers, predisposed to rebellion, by the 1960s. Additionally, these teenagers had grown up during an era of political liberalism, and were wealthier than the children of generations before them ever had been, so politics were more important to them than before because they had more time to focus on and understand them. These children had also heard about the horrors of the totalitarian regimes that were still fresh in the world's memory. Finally, combined with the struggle and success of the American civil rights movement as inspiration, all of these factors converged to form a distinct counterculture movement whose echoes still have an influential grip on today's society.
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