Focusing on NATO's continued crisis of identity, Joyce P. Kaufman argues
that the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo have
proven to be critical to an alliance that has not been able to define
its roles and missions in the post-Cold War world. While, on the one
hand, NATO was enlarging by inviting former adversaries in Central and
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to join, on the other hand it
has been woefully unprepared to deal with the ethnic conflicts that
erupted on its borders and that could undermine the peace and stability
of Europe. The author contends that the conflicts in the former
Yugoslavia have potentially threatened the essence of NATO by forcing
the alliance to take on the new role of peacekeeper without adequately
allowing the members to examine the role the alliance wants to or should
play in a largely postcommunist world. Despite ongoing discussion in
NATO ministerial summits, the alliance has made little progress to date
and public questions about the role and even the viability of NATO after
the Cold War continue to grow. The inability to address these issues
leaves NATO facing a number of pressing questions that this book tries
to answer: What role can and should the alliance play in the future? And
why have the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans proven to be a challenge
that the alliance has been unwilling or unable to resolve?
