ABSTRACT
If the presence of Immanuel Kant in the debates over post-Cold War security is somewhat surprising, the place of NATO at the heart of these debates was clearly less unexpected. As the core institution of Western and European security over the previous four decades, the question of NATO’s role and relevance in the new situation was inevitably going to be at the heart of debates over the emerging order. Yet NATO’s continued and even increased centrality in this period was a surprise to many – not least amongst them many theorists of international relations. Many prominent realists, in particular, argued that with the collapse of its defining adversary NATO would soon dissolve, leading to John Mearsheimer’s famous warning that we would ‘soon miss the Cold War’. Clearly, however, NATO did not disappear as predicted,1 and understanding both the persistence and evolution of the alliance provides an important challenge for understanding security relations.
