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THE NEW CONCERT OF EUROPE
Introduction
In 1814, the collapse of an empire brought an end to decades of ideological and military rivalry in Europe. The leaders of the triumphant states had a status quo view of international affairs, having just defeated an adversary who sought to overthrow established governments and establish a pan-European hegemony; all felt the existing balance of powers came to be known as the Concert of Europe. ... The Soviet Union did call in late 1989 and early 1990 for a grand European conference, which would have settled the future of Germany and established new security structures for Europe. The Soviet proposal was rejected because the Western powers correctly judged that their goals for Germany and Europe could best be achieved without such a conference. ... It nicely symbolized the end of the Cold War, blessed the just-signed Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and agreed to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) extension of human rights guarantees and development of new consultative structures. ... In short, the structures needed for a new Concert of Europe are already in place. ...
• Second, prevention of any war in Europe that would genuinely threaten the interests of a major power. ...
• Fourthly, promotion of a liberal economic environment for trade and prosperity in Europe. ... The most serious challenges are likely to be economic turmoil, a general crisis of state authority in important parts of Europe, the uncertain fate of countries on the periphery of Europe and the growing availability of weapons of mass destruction. To manage these dangers, the new Concert of Europe can rely on a set of eclectic, confusing, but ultimately workable institutions for political consultation and co-ordination. ... The strength of the resulting foundation will rest entirely on the ways the major powers define their vital interests in Europe’s future. ... A promise of enlargement in Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union, for example, is meaningless unless leaders create an environment in which their people will spend treasure, or even blood, to sustain their commitments. ... Indeed the US should remain committed to Europe. ... European leaders and peoples must recapture a larger vision of national purpose if they are to help realize the peace-making potential of this new Concert of Europe.
The Other Europe
The new international system taking shape in Europe is hard to define because the political conditions in Western Europe are so strikingly different from those in the half Europe recently freed from totalitarian rule. Now that the important aspects of the international system that produced peace in Europe during the Cold War are irrevocably gone, there is a lively debate among Western theorists about the future. ...
An Economic Struggle To Survive In Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe - now thought of as an area extending from the Oder to the Urals - is in the midst of a deepening economic crisis. ... Such economic problems can aggravate political tensions and reverse the social trends that have dampened xenophobia and hyper-nationalism in Europe. ...
A General Crisis Of State Authority In Eastern Europe
The governing elites in Eastern Europe have been displaced by the revolutions of 1989, 1990 and 1991. ...
It is difficult to predict he way that the crisis of state authority in Eastern Europe will ultimately play out because policy choices and revolutionary opportunities will be influenced by an array of historical considerations, social attitudes, political structures and economic imperatives.
Political And Technological Developments On Europe’s Periphery
Although the revolutions that have taken place in Europe have captured a great deal of attention, the prospects for political stability on Europe’s periphery are also important. ... If the new governments in these regions become swept up in political movements originating in South-West Asia, Europe could find itself increasingly involved in regional matters. Aside from the threat posed to the secular Turkish state, which Ankara is acting energetically to contain, Europe could find itself, as in centuries past, seeking to block the northward movement of forces that could undermine Eurasian stability. ...
Europe’s detachment from the turmoil on its periphery is being further eroded by widening access to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, along with the means of delivering them.
Approximate Word count = 3384
Approximate Pages = 13.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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