The post-cold war settlement in Europe: A triumph of arms control
{open_quotes}The military capabilities of the countries of Europe are also less threatening now than in the past, and this has been accomplished by arms control.{close_quotes} The author argues that there is a new security order in place in Europe, one that differs from the two most familiar ways of organizing security: balance-of-power politics and world government. Balance-of-power politics has been the source of such stability as Europe has enjoyed for most of its recorded history, including during the Cold War years. World government is a utopian dream that has been envisioned and advocated but never implemented, and that might not be a source of celebration if it were implemented, which it almost surely will not be. The theme of The Dawn of Peace in Europe is that, in the wake of the Cold War, Europe has established a third method for achieving security, called common security and that owes something to the concept of cooperative security that was developed at the Brookings Institution. Within this common security regime, Europe is still made up of soverign states. There is no supranational authority. The states of Europe are still armed. But peace in Europe does not depend-as it has for most of Europe`s recorded history-on a finely balanced hostility between and among the most powerful European nations. The new common security order has dramatically reduced both the incentives and the capabilities for war.
- OSTI ID:
- 530820
- Journal Information:
- Arms Control Today, Journal Name: Arms Control Today Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 27; ISSN 0196-125X; ISSN ACOTEB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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