METTERNICH, CONSERVATIVE EUROPHILIA AND CONTEMPORARY EUROPE

: SOME ABSTRACTIONS FROM A WORLD RESTORED: METTERNICH, CASTLEREAGH AND THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE, 1812-1822 BY HENRY KISSINGER

Abstract

This article attempts to apply Henry Kissinger’s inferences that he offers at the conclusion of his work A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace, 1812-1822 on contemporary European state of affairs. It is divided into two parts. The first part gives an extensive review, whereas, the succeeding one builds the case on the arguments as presented in the final chapter ‘The Nature of Statesmanship’. Moreover, it is hypothesised that just as the period immediately after the liquidation of the Napoleonic empire was ‘transitory’1, the current age too finds itself in a sort of ‘transition’. Metternich and those who belonged to his school of thought held a conservative conception of European unity. On the other hand, the modern Europhiles propound a post-1945/89 liberal conception. Irredentist and pugnacious nationalism succeeded the era of Metternich. The existing Brussels system may not be substituted by such a violent setting, however, this ‘transition’ will stabilize in a comprehensively different arrangement.