ABSTRACT
In April 1999, NATO marked its fiftieth anniversary and admitted the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, thus expanding the alliance to nineteen members. NATO remains an amazingly resilient institution that has grown in size from the original twelve members while it has assumed additional chores and weathered crises (e.g., France’s withdrawal from NATO’s integrated command, changes in military doctrine, conflict between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus). Since the end of the cold war, NATO has been in a process of redefining itself to address security challenges both within and beyond Europe. In the latter instance, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 presented threats to NATO’s resource supply lines and other interests (e.g., United States’ security commitment to Israel). In addition, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the fall of strong centralized governments in eastern Europe have created new risks from ethnic unrest, trade in nuclear devices, and political instabilities, which had previously been held in check by authoritarian regimes. Additional security risks have come from tribal conflicts in Africa, a spreading Islamic fundamentalist revolution, transnational terrorism, regional arms races, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
