The Concert System which had been fostered by the European Congress meetings in 1814 and 1815 was the dominant system of international cooperation in Europe until the 1850s. It can be understood as an attempt of the reactionary European powers to reassert stability in a time of domestic and international disorder. George Lawon, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, analyses in his speech the effectiveness of the Concert and its influence on global governance over the subsequent two centuries.
Conference: 200 Years of Conference Diplomacy | From the Congress of Vienna to the G7
On 9 June 1815, the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna was signed. Two hundred years later, on 7 and 8 June 2015, Germany hosted the G7 summit. This coincidence provided a unique occasion to reflect on the past, present and future of conference diplomacy. For this purpose, an international conference with eminent political scientists and historians took place at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin on 8 and 9 June 2015. Researchers as well as political practitioners discussed the lessons of 200 years of multilateral cooperation, in four crucial areas: inclusion, effectiveness, legitimacy, and international order.