The survival of NATO as a viable alliance is currently challenged by a shift in the strategic balance of power, as well as by global events and contingencies that extend far beyond NATO's boundaries. In the face of these challenges, existing institutional mechanisms are proving inadequate to respond effectively. The distinguished contributors to this volume draw on their vast political and diplomatic experience to identify and analyze the problems confronting NATO for the remainder of the twentieth century. They make clear the need for a trans-Atlantic communication network among policymakers, scholars, and others-a network that will allow an ongoing process of analysis and assessment of NATO's strategic, economic, and political problems, along with the identification of appropriate reactions.
Covering German foreign policy since the end of World War II, this book explores Germany's recovery from wartime defeat and destruction. Through a chronological series of case studies, it offers a document-based account of 60 years of German policymaking.
Why NATO Endures examines military alliances and their role in international relations, developing two themes. The first is that the Atlantic Alliance, also known as NATO, has become something very different from virtually all pre-1939 alliances and many contemporary alliances. The members of early alliances frequently feared their allies as much if not more than their enemies, viewing them as temporary accomplices and future rivals. In contrast, NATO members were almost all democracies that encouraged each other to grow stronger. The book's second theme is that NATO, as an alliance of democracies, has developed hidden strengths that have allowed it to endure for roughly 60 years, unlike most other alliances, which often broke apart within a few years. Democracies can and do disagree with one another, but they do not fear each other. They also need the approval of other democracies as they conduct their foreign policies. These traits constitute built-in, self-healing tendencies, which is why NATO endures.
The primary mission assigned to the British Army from the 1950s until the end of the Cold War was deterring Soviet aggression in Europe by demonstrating the will and capability to fight with nuclear weapons in defence of NATO territory. This 'surreal' mission was unlike any other in history, and raised a number of conceptual and practical difficulties. This comprehensive study observes how the British Army imagined nuclear war, and how it planned to fight it. Using new archival sources, Simon J. Moody analyses British thinking about tactical nuclear weapons, the role of the Army within NATO strategy, the development of theories of tactical nuclear warfare, how nuclear war was taught at the Staff College, the role of operational research, and the evolution of the Army's nuclear war-fighting doctrine. He argues that the British Army possessed the intellectual capacity for organisational adaptation, but that it displayed a cognitive dissonance about some of the more uncomfortable realities of nuclear war.
"Stanley Sloan has for many years been one of the most influential and authoritative analysts of the NATO Alliance. In his new book Permanent Alliance? he demonstrates once again his in-depth knowledge of NATO issues and his sound, balanced judgements of both the strengths and weaknesses of the Alliance as it strives to adapt to the 21st-century security challenges. This book should be at the top of the list for anyone who wants to understand today's NATO." Jamie Shea, Director, Policy Planning, Private Office of the Secretary General, NATO "Stanley Sloan, a distinguished NATO analyst, has been thinking, lecturing, and writing about the transatlantic bargain for over a generation. In this, his third book on the subject, he has produced a masterly re-examination of the sixty-year relationship between America and Europe. Cautiously optimistic about NATO's future, this authoritative study should be welcomed by scholars and policymakers alike. It will be a valuable text for my NATO history classes." Lawrence S. Kaplan, Emeritus Director, Lyman L. Lemnitzer Center for NATO and European Union Studies, Kent State University "Sloan's book is an outstanding study on the subject matter of transatlantic relations. He is an original thinker, an experienced researcher and---clearly visible---loves the subject matter. This study is a must both for teachers and students of political science and contemporary history." Bram Boxhoorn, Director, Netherlands Atlantic Association "I read Stan Sloan as I began teaching NATO affairs decades ago. I continue to read him today to learn. You will as well---read him." Lawrence Chalmer, National Defense University Permanent Alliance? NATO and the Transatlantic Bargain from Truman to Obama examines how US-European relations are evolving in response to the many global trends that are changing the strategic environment for that relationship. The Obama Administration has taken responsibility for US participation in the transatlantic alliance as the allies prepare to implement a new strategic concept and try to shape NATO's future in view of these trends and the alliance's experience in Afghanistan. In this light, Sloan assesses whether NATO is becoming the permanent alliance President George Washington warned us against, or if it is nearing the end of its utility.
