Three lessons of peace: From the congress of Vienna to the Ukraine crisis

The year 2014 will be remembered as a transitional year in the political climate of Europe. Following the civil war in eastern Ukraine and the incorporation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the continent is experiencing a reversal from a system of consensus into a system that is more reminiscent of the past opposition between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This shift may seem even more surprising, because the new order that had rapidly emerged after the end of the cold war, with its regular conferences and summits, had become the order of the day. Unfortunately, international relations do not follow a uniform path of progress; there is, of course, no “end to history”.