Original citation

A reminder of your learning outcomes
Having completed this chapter, and the Essential reading and activities, 
you should be able to:
• explain some of the reasons why Europe emerged as the main driver of 
world politics by the end of the nineteenth century
• discuss competing explanations of the ‘Long Peace’ in Europe between 
1814 and 1914
• evaluate different explanations of the causes of the First World War 
• assess the impact of the First World War on IR in the twentieth century
• define the vocabulary terms in bold.
Chapter vocabulary
arms race
balance of power
capitalism
empire
feudalism
hegemony
hegemonic stability
institutions
international history
international society
Long Peace
nation
state
states-system
zero sum game 
Sample examination questions
1. How can international society be both ordered and anarchic?
2. What historical processes were responsible for the evolution of the state 
as the primary actor in IR?
3. Which best describes the current international situation: a balance of 
power, or hegemonic stability?
After preparing your answers, refer to the Examiners’ commentaries on 
the VLE for targeted feedback on specific questions.

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Chapter 3: The end of the Cold War
39
Chapter 3: The end of the Cold War
Whatever else might be said about the cold war, the one thing 
it cannot be accused of is having failed to engage the interest 
of the western intellectual community… It was nearly the most 
important relationship we all had at the time.
Cox, M. ‘The end of the Cold War and why we failed to predict 
it’ in Hunter, A. Rethinking the Cold War. (Philadelphia: Temple 
University Press, 1998).