ABSTRACT
Political scientists sometimes treat historical scholarship the way Sergeant Friday treated witnesses: "just the facts, ma'am". At a time when political scientists have shown renewed interest in the Concert of Europe both for its intrinsic significance and for its possible relevance in the post-Cold War era, it is particularly valuable to explore the differences between the Concert and the balance of power as seen by scholars in both disciplines. To develop parsimonious explanations, political scientists construct abstract models and theories. The most obvious question that we try to answer in this area is how international politics can maintain restraint and stability despite its being anarchic that is, lacking a central authority above the states that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force and can make and enforce binding agreements. Insight, creativity, and independent thinking played a greater role than they do in most political science treatments of learning.
