ABSTRACT
One of the main ideas behind the Jeju Peace Conference was that the regional integration of nation states can be a framework for bringing stable peace. With the European post-World War II experience in mind the chapter questions this idea. The obvious absence of war within Europe over more than six decades has rather been a consequence of the economic and military US strategy of roll-back against the Soviet Bloc and of the resulting fragile dynamic balance of power between East and West than of the political will to keep peace. Meanwhile, European civilization and human rights are allegedly being defended in Central Asia Another flank of the Russian territory and in the Indian Ocean. Justification for the presence of troops in Afghanistan, which has been condoned by the UN Security Council-albeit not as a "blue-helmet" peace mission, but as "enforced peacekeeping"-is based on the notion that "in order to maintain peace (in Europe), peace must be secured in Afghanistan".
