Peaceful Change in Western Europe: From Balance of Power to Political Community?

This chapter traces three different conceptions of peaceful change in Western Europe since 1945 and discusses their implications for understanding peaceful change in Western Europe today. The first is Hobbesian Western Europe. Corresponding to a largely realist understanding, Hobbesians view peaceful change in Western Europe as a by-product of balancing and hegemony in the Cold War. The second is Lockean Western Europe. Corresponding to a largely liberal understanding of peaceful change, the Lockean perspective views peaceful change in the region as the product of liberal democratic states responding rationally to the challenges of international anarchy by institutionalizing the region. The third is Kantian Western Europe. Corresponding to a largely constructivist understanding of peaceful change, Kantians view peaceful change in Europe as the construction of a civil league of nations exercising ‘normative power Europe’ inside and outside the region.