Should the Concert of Europe be viewed as an example of collective security?

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Should the Concert of Europe be viewed as an example of collective security?

 

   The Napoleonic Wars, lasting from 1789 until 1815, were unlike any previously fought on continental Europe. For the first time, it was fought between nations and not just the ruling elites of each state. In addition, the terrible toll in lives lost and damage done was of a previously unthinkable scale. When, therefore, Napoleon was defeated and France was restored to its original (pre-Revolutionary) frontiers, the Great Powers of Europe sought to create a system between them that would ensure a lasting peace. This system came to be known as the Concert of Europe, and acted to sustain a viable peace from 1815 until the Crimean War in 1848. This essay discusses whether this system acted in a way consistent with the theory of Collective Security. This essay will begin by discussing the theoretical framework of Collective Security, its key principles and objectives. Following this, a look at the structure of the Concert of Europe will show its theoretical incompatibility with Collective Security doctrine. The two systems show two clearly different approaches to power among states, and the principles of Collective Security are not the same as those of the concert. Thirdly, it will be shown how the Concert acted in practice, not in line with collective security, but with balance-of-power, the system that theorists of Collective Security attempt to replace. Nevertheless, the following section of this essay will show how some of the key participants in the Concert of Europe, particularly Metternich of Austria, did sometimes act with collective security, rather than balance of power, in mind, and that many of the Concerts techniques seem at odds with traditional balance of power logic. Thus, the theory of ‘Concert collective security’, put forward to explain this discrepancy, will be explained and examined. This will lead to the conclusion that, while the Concert of Europe does not comply with the theoretical basis of collective security, in practice it offers slight cohesion with some parts of it. Therefore, it will be shown that the Concert of Europe should be seen neither as collective security nor as balance of power, but as a different method of maintaining international peace and security.

   In order to answer the question, the first step is to identify what is meant by collective security. As Inis Claude states;

[Collective security] purports to provide security for all states, by the actions of all states, against all states that might challenge the existing order by the arbitrary unleashing of their power.

  It can be seen from this that the supporters of this system wished to dramatically change the nature of international relations, which had previously been dominated by the balance of power system. The main principles of collectively security have been identified as certainty, utility, and universality. The principle of certainty is that the overwhelming force of all other states, or at least those called upon, must meet any potential aggressor. This would be a factor of any organisation acting in the name of collectively security. Member states of this organisation, as condition of membership, are obligated to act against aggressors. Secondly, there is the principle of utility; that any act of aggression by one should be met by all other states using “as many of the tools of international politics as are available to them.” This suggests that not only would states use diplomatic efforts, but also economic sanctions and, should the need arise, military force, do deter any potential aggressor. The final principle, of universality, asserts that a collective security organisation would, by nature of wishing to counter aggression from within its ranks, seek to maximise its membership to ensure the continuation of the existing political structure of the world. With a membership approximating universality, an organisation is most likely to successfully suppress aggression from within. Further to these principles, there are certain conditions given, which must be met in order for collective security to function at all. The most important of these is that power is diffuse among all states. This is to ensure that no one state could be so dominant as to make any potential opponents unable or unwilling to resist it. Secondly, collective security requires that there is a general agreement, particularly among the stronger states (great powers), regarding the political nature of the order of states. As collective security seeks to maintain peace, and thus the status quo, the vast majority of states must concur to the defined political map.

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   Born from the ashes that the Napoleonic Wars had left, the ‘great powers’ of Europe, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain, met at Vienna to create what has become known as the Concert of Europe. At the Congress of Vienna, the lands from which the defeated France was expelled were divided amongst the members and other states to achieve a relative balance, where no state was severely at loss to the others. More importantly, the borders of France were set to pre-Revolution positions, not carved up amongst the victors, which has so often happened after wars. Also, it is ...

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