Review: New European Orders
| Author | Margaret MacMillan |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209905400114 |
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS
NEW
EUROPEAN
ORDERS
1919
and
1991
Edited
by
Samuel
F.
Wells,
Jr,
and
Paul
Bailey
Smith
Washington DC:
Woodrow Wilson
Center
Press,
1996,
xiv,
121pp
C
onference papers usually
have
a
limited
appeal,
but
this
tightly
focussed
collection
is
worth
reading.
Most
of
the
authors
have
remembered
that
their
job
is
to
draw instructive
parallels
between
the
aftermaths
of
World
War
I
and
of
the
cold war.
Two
fine
essays,
by
Michael
Burns
on
protection
for
ethnic minorities then
and
now,
and
Charles Maier,
who
compares
the economic
mess left
behind
in
central
Europe
by
the
Soviet
collapse to
that
in
1919,
show
where
the
earlier
attempts
failed
without,
alas,
offering
much
hope
that
we
are
going
to
do
any
better.
The
central
question,
posed with admirable
clarity
by
Fred
Ikenber-
ry,
is
how
the
world
can
replace
a
shattered order.
(That
such
an
order
is
needed
is
not
in
question
here.)
What
norms, what
institutions,
what
political
will
is
needed
if
the
1930s
are
not
be
repeated? Such
opportunities,
according
to
Ikenberry,
come
along
rarely
and
only
after
great
upheavals
-
1815,
1919,
1945,
and
perhaps
the
1990s.
The
Europe
of
1815
had
Metternich and
Talleyrand,
1919
Lloyd
George,
Clemenceau,
and
Wilson.
And,
as
Ernest
May
points
out
in
a
provocative
essay,
in
1919
public
opinion
demanded
a
better
world
order.
Today's
leaders
and
publics
do
not
get
a
particularly
good
rating;
Stephen
Burg
is
gloomy
about
the
international
failure
in
Yugoslavia,
while
David
Dilks
sees
little hope
for
collective
security
in
the
immedi-
ate
future.
None
of
the
contributors
pretends
that
a
study
of
1919
will
provide
a
handy
blueprint
for
the
1990s.
Nevertheless,
as
Samuel
Wells
points
out
in
his
introduction,
historical
analogies
help
us
to
look
at
the
pre-
sent
and
its
problems
with
an
informed
eye.
That
stress
on
history
as
key to
understanding
international
relations,
which
runs
throughout
the
book,
is
a
welcome
note.
Margaret
MacMillan/Ryerson
Polytechnical
University
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Winter
1998-9
To continue reading
Request your trial