The Promise of Collective Security Author(S): Charles A
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The Promise of Collective Security Author(s): Charles A. Kupchan and Clifford A. Kupchan Source: International Security, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer, 1995), pp. 52-61 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539215 . Accessed: 27/04/2011 06:55 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mitpress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Security. http://www.jstor.org The Promiseof CharlesA. Kupchan Collective Security and I John J. Mearsheimer's critique of collective securitymisses its mark for three main reasons. First, Mearsheimer employs so narrow a definitionof collective securitythat he definesaway the issues most centralto evaluating the peace-causing effectsof institutionswithin the collectivesecurity family Second, he misrepresentshow collectivesecurity acts to promotestability, by portrayingit as based on mor- alistic principlesthat violate the logic of power balancing. But collectivesecu- rityis, if nothingelse, all about balancing and the aggregationof militaryforce against threatsto peace. Indeed, its main advantages over balancing under anarchyare thatit provides formore effectivebalancing against aggressorsand thatit promotesa more cooperativeinternational environment, thereby making inter-staterivalry and aggression less likely Third, Mearsheimer's general critique of institutionsstems froma theoreticalperspective-structural real- ism-that ignores the extent to which domestic politics,beliefs, and norms shape state behavior. By explaining war and peace solely in termsof power balancing in an anarchicworld, Mearsheimermounts an attackthat is at once ahistoricaland internallycontradictory. We contend thata theoreticalperspec- tive that takes power seriously,but not to the exclusion of domestic and ideational variables,offers a richer,more accurate vision of internationalpoli- tics.It is withinthis vision thatcollective security has an importantrole to play in promotingpeace and cooperation. DefiningCollective Security The case forcollective security rests on the claim thatregulated, institutional- ized balancing predicated on the notion of all against one provides more stabilitythan unregulated,self-help balancing predicatedon the notionof each for his own. Under collectivesecurity, states agree to abide by certainnorms and rules to maintain stabilityand, when necessary,band togetherto stop CharlesA. Kupchanis SeniorFellow for Europe at theCouncil on ForeignRelations and a professorat GeorgetownUniversity. Clifford A. Kupchanis SeniorForeign Policy Adviserto CongressmanHarry Johnston. The authorswould like to thankRichard Betts, George Downs, PeterKatzenstein, Robert Keohane, Lisa Martin,Jack Snyder, and AlexanderWendt for their comments on earlierdrafts of this article. InternationalSecurity, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer 1995), pp. 52-61 ? 1995 by the Presidentand Fellows of Harvard College and the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology. 52 The Promiseof CollectiveSecurity | 53 aggression.Stability-the absence of major war-is the productof cooperation. In a world of balancing under anarchy,states fend for themselves according to the dictates of a hostile internationalenvironment. Stability emerges from competition.The key question is whetherregulated balancing predicatedupon the notion of all against one, or unregulatedbalancing predicated upon the notionof each forhis own, is more likelyto preservepeace. Our task is to show only that collectivesecurity is preferableto balancing under anarchy,not that collectivesecurity is a panacea or the ultimateanswer to preventingwar. In his critique,Mearsheimer focuses only on ideal collective security-a variant in which states make automatic and legally binding commitmentsto respond to aggressionwherever and wheneverit occurs.He explicitlyexcludes fromconsideration other institutional formulations, such as concerts,that rely on looser and more informalregulation of balancing,arguing that they do not constitutecollective security. As a resultof this definitionalmaneuver, Mear- sheimerdirects his critiqueat a strawman and failsto engage the core concep- tual issue at stake:whether some formof regulated,institutionalized balancing is preferableto unregulatedbalancing under anarchy Of necessity,debate about the value of institutionsmust focus on generic formulations,not on the performanceof a specificinstitutional variant. Any institutionthat is predicatedupon the principlesof regulatedbalancing and all against one falls into the collective securityfamily Concerts do retain an undercurrentof competitive,self-help balancing. But they operate in a regu- lated, norm-governedenvironment and are predicated on the logic of all against one, not each forhis own. Accordingly,our originalterminology, which refersto a familyof collectivesecurity organizations ranging from ideal collec- tive securityto concerts,best captures the underlyingconceptual issues at stake.' Mearsheimer's formulationis, simply put, analyticallyunsustainable. He insists that concerts are "largely consistentwith realism" and logically "incompatible"with collectivesecurity, but writesthat concerts entail "coordi- nated balancing" among "greatpowers thathave no incentiveto challengeeach othermilitarily [and] agree on a set of rules to coordinatetheir actions" (p. 35). These featuresare fundamentalattributes of collective securityand stand in 1. For furtherdiscussion, see Richard Betts, "Systems for Peace or Causes of War? Collective Security,Arms Control,and the New Europe," InternationalSecurity, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Summer1992), pp. 5-43; George Downs and Keisuke lida, "Assessing the TheoreticalCase Against Collective Security,"in George Downs, ed., CollectiveSecurity Beyond the Cold War(Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press, 1994), pp. 17-21; and Charles Lipson, "Is the Future of Collective SecurityLike the Past?" in ibid., pp. 105-131. InternationalSecurity 20:1 | 54 starkcontrast to the inescapable competitionand self-helpstrategies of realist balancing under anarchy2 The Advantagesof CollectiveSecurity The advantages of collectivesecurity fall into two categories:it provides for more effectivebalancing against aggressors,and it promotes trustand coop- eration. MORE EFFECTIVE BALANCING AGAINST AGGRESSORS Perhaps because of confusion over what collective securityis, Mearsheimer misunderstandsits underlyingcausal logic. Accordingto Mearsheimer,collec- tive securityrequires that states "ignore . balance-of-powerconsiderations" (p. 33). This characterizationis fundamentallymistaken. Collective security addresses head-on the centralconcern of realistswith the competitivenature of the internationalenvironment and its propensityto triggerspirals of hostil- ity Fully aware of the war-causingfeatures of the internationalsystem, collec- tive securityseeks to provide a more effectivemechanism for balancing against aggressors when they emerge, as well as to make aggression less likely by amelioratingthe competitivenature of internationalrelations. The challenge forproponents of collectivesecurity is not,as Mearsheimerwrites, to show that "institutionsare the key to managing power successfully"(p. 27). It is to show that thereis value added: that institutionsare betterthan no institutionsand offeran improvementupon the self-helpworld of balancing under anarchy Collective securityprovides formore effectivebalancing against aggressors than balancing under anarchybecause, when it works,it confrontsaggressors with preponderantas opposed to merely equal force.3Under anarchy,only those states directlythreatened by the aggressorand stateswith vital interests in the threatenedareas will band togetherto resistaggression. Under collective 2. See JohnJ. Mearsheimer, "The False Promiseof InternationalInstitutions," International Security, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Winter 1994/95), pp. 5-49. The conceptual muddle caused by Mearsheimer's restrictivedefinition of collectivesecurity is also apparentin his discussion of the empiricalrecord (pp. 33-34). Mearsheimerrefers to the League of Nations and the United Nations as collective securityorganizations. Neither, however, comes close to fulfillingthe standardsof ideal collective security.The League Covenant and the UN Charterdo not entail automaticand binding commit- ments to respond to aggressionwith force.Both organizationscreated inner councils to enhance the influenceof the greatpowers. In theserespects, the League and the UN resembleconcerts more than they do ideal collectivesecurity