IT IS OFTEN ARGUED THAT INTERDEPENDENT economic relations between countries could create a favorable atmosphere to the solutio of political problems, thus enhancing peace and security. It has almost become truism to cite Franco-German relations, and in a wider scale the development o the European Union, as ample examples of this argument. 1 The proof is clearl there: Further interdependence among the western European countries throug economic integration led to the emergence of, first, a core'zone of peace', and then gradually a continent-wide" security community." 2 Along the way, how this integration process started among the European states (the fact that it w almost forced upon them) is conveniently forgotten and the exogenous variable that affected its development over the years are less easily discernable. Clearly, the European states, before the creation of the rudimentary precursors of the EU back in early 1950s, were not known for their ability of peaceful co-existence. Nor were they noted for their ability in conflict management/resolution. However, it does not automatically follow that th emergence of an economic community and integration brought peaceful qualities to the" old continent." It is without doubt that economic interdependence, after a certain level of interaction between member states, has enhanced peaceful ways of problem solving.