From War to Peace : Altered Strategic Landscapes in the Twentieth Century

In this timely collection, a dozen leading scholars of international affairs consider the twentieth century's recurring failure to construct a stable and peaceful international order in the wake of war. Why has peace been so hard to build? The authors reflect on the difficulties faced by governments as they sought a secure world order after the First World War, the Second World War, and the Cold War.

Major wars unleashed new and unexpected forces, the authors show, and in post-war periods policy-makers were faced not only with the reappearance of old power-political issues but also with quite unforeseen challenges. In 1918, a hundred-year-old order based on a balance of power among the states of Europe collapsed, leaving European and American leaders to deal with social, ideological, and ethnic crises. After World War II, hopeful plans for peace were checked by nuclear rivalry, international economic competition, and colonial issues. And unexpected challenges after the Cold War -- global economic instability, ethnic conflict, environmental crises -- joined wi

Carole Fink, professor of European international history at Ohio State University Gregory Flynn is associate professor of international affairs and director of the M.A. program in German and European studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University William I. Hitchcock teaches history at Wellesley College Michael Howard was Robert A. Lovett Professor of History at Yale University and Regius Professor of History at Oxford University Paul Kennedy is J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History and director of International Security Studies at Yale University Diane B. Kunz is adjunct professor of international relations at Columbia University Melvyn P. Leffler is Edward Stettinius Professor of American History at the University of Virginia Charles S. Maier is director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and a member of the history department at Harvard University Tony Smith is the Cornelia M. Jackson Professor of Political Science at Tufts University. Marc Trachtenberg is professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania. Randall B. Woods is John A. Cooper, Sr., Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas. Philip Zelikow is White Burkett Miller Professor of History and director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia