A Twenty-First Century Concert of Powers

Dealing with the issue of a possible Concert of Powers for the twenty-first century the latest HSFK-Report opens the series "1914-2014: Der Erste Weltkrieg - 100 Jahre danach".

A new distribution of power in the world becomes apparent. Great Powers with their massive economic and military potential keep their dominating role in the international system. At the same time, American hegemony is challenged by the rise of other powers such as China, India and Brazil. Today's situation shows certain similarities to the constellation of power and conflict of 1914. Therefore, peace among the Great Powers must not be taken for granted as a natural development - on the contrary, in order to prevent a war of the Great Powers, big efforts and political acumen are required.


The "Concert of Europe", the constellation of Great Powers in the 19th century, had managed to sustain peace for more than one generation and to avert the escalation of conflicts. Increasing neglect of the norms and procedures of the Concert, however, have ultimately led to the outbreak of World War I.

 

In the light of these experiences, what might such a Concert of Powers look like today? In HSFK-Report 1/2014 "Ein Mächtekonzert für das 21. Jahrhundert. Blaupause für eine von Großmächten getragene multilaterale Sicherheitsinstitution", Harald Müller, Konstanze Jüngling, Daniel Müller and Carsten Rauch give an outline of how a security institution could be shaped that draws a lesson from the strengths of the "Concert of Europe" while avoiding its weaknesses.


This Report is the first contribution in the series "1914-2014: Der Erste Weltkrieg - 100 Jahre danach": 100 years after the outbreak of the First World War peace research is required to put global developments to the test. Can political constellations, crises or erroneous developments be observed today that resemble the ones in the years before 1914? Where do we still encounter the consequences of World War I today? How can future wars be prevented? At irregular intervals contributions to these questions will be published in this new PRIF publication series.


This HSFK-Report is available at PRIF for 6€ or can be downloaded for free.