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 that region today. The first is Hobbesian. Corresponding to a largely realist understanding, Hobbesians view peaceful change in Western Europe as a byproduct of balancing and hegemony in the Cold War. The second is Lockean. Corresponding to a largely liberal understanding of peaceful change, the Lockean perspective views such 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. Corresponding to a largely constructivist understanding, Kantians view peaceful change in Europe as the construction of a civil league of nations exercising “normative power Europe” inside and outside the region.