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NATO's New Mission: Projecting Stability in a Post-Cold War World
Reports of NATO's death have been greatly exaggerated. Characterizations of NATO as a relic of the past do not square with the fact that the Alliance is busier today than at any time in its history. As Europe has become more unified and more democratic, NATO has assumed new layers of significance in the global security environment. In a post-September 11 world, the old 1990s debate about what is in area and what is out of area is a luxury that the Alliance can no longer afford. Decisions made at the 2004 Istanbul summit aimed at enhancing NATO's partnerships with the states of Central Asia and extending the partnership concept to the Greater Middle East reflect the Alliance's new, more global presence as do new military missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan.
Moore argues that a careful analysis of NATO's new, more global focus suggests that it's not the nature of NATO's mission that has changed, but rather its scope. NATO is approaching its new out of area missions with the political tools developed after the Soviet threat faded in the early 1990s when the Allies agreed that, rather than merely defend an old order, they would now create a new one grounded in liberal democratic values, including individual liberty and the rule of law. Indeed, the mission of projecting stability eastward was understood to be inextricable from the promotion of these values.
This new mission required that NATO devote greater attention to its political dimension. In fact, as the United States turned to promoting democracy around the world in the wake of September 11, it ultimately sought to enlist NATO in its mission of extending democracy beyond Europe to Central Asia and the Middle East. As Moore demonstrates in her attempt to provide a full and comprehensive understanding of the new NATO, while divisions within the Alliance persist as to just how global NATO should be, the post-September 11 security environment ensures that NATO's survival depends upon its willingness to project security beyond Europe. That mission will be as much political as it is military.
Moore argues that a careful analysis of NATO's new, more global focus suggests that it's not the nature of NATO's mission that has changed, but rather its scope. NATO is approaching its new out of area missions with the political tools developed after the Soviet threat faded in the early 1990s when the Allies agreed that, rather than merely defend an old order, they would now create a new one grounded in liberal democratic values, including individual liberty and the rule of law. Indeed, the mission of projecting stability eastward was understood to be inextricable from the promotion of these values.
This new mission required that NATO devote greater attention to its political dimension. In fact, as the United States turned to promoting democracy around the world in the wake of September 11, it ultimately sought to enlist NATO in its mission of extending democracy beyond Europe to Central Asia and the Middle East. As Moore demonstrates in her attempt to provide a full and comprehensive understanding of the new NATO, while divisions within the Alliance persist as to just how global NATO should be, the post-September 11 security environment ensures that NATO's survival depends upon its willingness to project security beyond Europe. That mission will be as much political as it is military.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2007
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October 18, 2008
Originally formed as a collective security alliance against the Soviet threat in the aftermath of World War II, it would be easy to assume that NATO had outlived its usefulness with the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact in 1991. Moore makes the argument that NATO has maintained its relevance in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 security environment by transforming itself to an organization for projecting stability through the spread of NATO members' shared values of human rights, democracy, liberal economics, civilian control of the military, and the peaceful resolution of inter- and intra-state conflict.
This book is rather short -- only about 150 pages for the actual text, with the remaining pagecount devoted to endnotes, bibliography, and index. As such, it offers a broad overview of the events that shaped NATO's transformation since 1991 without going into a great deal of detail on any of them. While the Partnership for Peace and Membership Action Plan programs get a fair bit of attention, some of the other NATO partnerships barely get touched on, for example.
The writing style makes it a fairly easy read, and the book would make an excellent starting point for anyone interested in learning about NATO and its role in the contemporary security environment, with the endnotes and bibliography providing the reader who wants to delve deeper with a plethora of sources to choose from.
This book is rather short -- only about 150 pages for the actual text, with the remaining pagecount devoted to endnotes, bibliography, and index. As such, it offers a broad overview of the events that shaped NATO's transformation since 1991 without going into a great deal of detail on any of them. While the Partnership for Peace and Membership Action Plan programs get a fair bit of attention, some of the other NATO partnerships barely get touched on, for example.
The writing style makes it a fairly easy read, and the book would make an excellent starting point for anyone interested in learning about NATO and its role in the contemporary security environment, with the endnotes and bibliography providing the reader who wants to delve deeper with a plethora of sources to choose from.
Displaying 1 of 1 review