Evropa između opće i regionalne sigurnosti
Europe Between General and Regional Security

Summary/Abstract: The European Conference on Security and Co-operation, which is apparently to conclude its deliberations in the near future, has provided the theorists with the possibility to analyze the various aspects of international relations, the problems of security and co-operation, balance of power, the issue of universalism versus regionalism, etc. etc. The present article examines some of these issues, particularly the position of Europe in world developments within a longer time span, keeping in mind that Europe has always been more of a geographic than a political notion, although the nations of Europe never constituted a single state or a firm community of states. Since the Age of Renaissance Europe has ceased to be the object of conquest from outside, and has acquired, gradually but steadily, supremacy in the development of productive forces, especially of means ol warfare and in maritime affairs; it was only a matter of time when it would subject the rest of the world, in this or that way, and impose on it its own civilisation and law. Within the context of the present article, it should be noted that the Peace of Westphalen in 1648, concluding thirty years of religious war and bloodshed, was the first successful attempt to establish a lasting new order on European soil, based on relations among sovereign states. The Peace of Westphalen, in addition to establishing a system of balance of power, was the inception of the idea of collective security. Despite its being just a declarative provision which was unable to prevent violation, it provides the contours of the idea of association of states against those who violate the order, regardless of their momentary interests. However, until the present day all of these attempts to attain collective security were built on oligarchic premises and based on the balance of big powers, although the French Revolution and Napoleon’s conquests produced the awareness of the national particularity of some European nations. The lessons of the past teach us that the way out of this problem is in the co-operation and association of all European states, regardless of their size, strength and political system — in other words, in the transcendence of bloc division. This is not the way to achieve political integration of the whole of Europe, but it is a way to transcend at some point in the distant future the policy of balance itself, to make European security become an inseparable part of over-all world security; in other words, to make Europe as a whole, and each European state separately, factors equal in importance with all the other parts of the world and all other countries in the settlement of world problems by democratic means. Another problem treated in this article is the issue of the relationship between general and regional security, and the relationship between the universal and the regional system of collective security, with special reference to security in Europe. It has been shown that no system of collective security is effective if its mechanism is reduced to a one-sided implementation of the agreement on which it is based. The effectiveness of any system of this kind depends on the mutual co-operation of its members in all fields — political, economic and others, since this is the only way to maintain mutual trust. Furthermore, no regional system of collective security should imply particularistic tendencies, and regional security is an inseparable part of general security. Consequently, every regional system of collective security must be a component part of a universal system, as set down in the United Nations Charter. Likewise, a regional system of collective security must never be at odds with the goal of general security. In other words, it must not represent a counterforce to another alliance or to a super power but, on the contrary, create conditions for the elimination of existing alliances and bloc divisions among its members in the region it covers. In our view, the way to achieving security and co-operation lies in a future agreement or system of European security, provided that it is truly regional and free from supremacy of any super power, provided that it is not an agreement between blocs. In that case, its effect would not only be to preserve peace and security in this region but also to help eliminate bloc division and foster instead healthy and equal co-operation among its members.

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