After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it seemed as if transatlantic great-power competition had become a thing of the past. But tensions over NATO enlargement in the 1990s and 2000s, combined with economic disaster in Russia and the rise of President Vladimir Putin, eroded relations between the West and Russia once again. Under Putin, Moscow resumed changing state borders by coercion and force. By the time of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 at the latest, it was clear that the post-Cold War peace had failed. Now Europeans, NATO members, and Ukrainians must deal with the consequences—while also managing President Donald Trump’s extreme volatility. Professor Sarotte will explore these themes on the basis of her decades of archival work in multiple countries and interviews with hundreds of participants in events. She will explore what they mean for politics around the globe today, in a new era of "magical realism."