ABSTRACT
Among international relations scholars, there has been much debate on the consequences of the end of the Cold War for war and peace in the international system. A major contributor to this debate, John Mearsheimer, has argued emphatically that “a Europe without the superpowers . . . would probably be substantially more prone to violence than the past 45 years,” despite the continent’s growing economic interdependence, the role of political and functional institutions such as the European Union and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the pluralist domestic structure of European nations.2 As he sees it, “with the end of the Cold War, Europe is reverting to a state system that created powerful incentives for aggression in the past.” Because of this, he concludes, “we are likely soon to regret the passing of the Cold War.”
