Collective security beyond the Cold War

George W. Downs

The fall of the Soviet empire, like the redistributions of power that followed the fall of Napoleon and the end of the two world wars, has focused attention on schemes that advertise an ability to prevent the return of conflict and promote cooperation. Chief among these is the controversial idea of a new collective security system or a redesigned United Nations. Advocates view such an institution as an inevitable step in human evolution and the basic prerequisite for long-term stability and peace. Critics consider the idea a pipe dream that has been historically and theoretically discredited. This volume reexamines the idea of collective security, weighing the arguments for and against it and assessing its potential for coping with the regional and global security problems of a post-Cold War world. Six of the essays contained herein examine collective security from a theoretical and...

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