Concerts and Collective Security: The Real Lessons of the 19th Century.

At the end of the Cold War, a number of observers suggested that the time was finally ripe for a European collective security system. Several looked for inspiration to the 19th-century Concert of Europe. Critics warned, in turn, that collective security would fail, and might lull states into complacency, preventing timely balancing against aggressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]