ABSTRACT
Two events have transformed threat perception and national defence in the UK in the past few decades: the end of the Cold War and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The first brought the end of the superpower confrontation and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, but it also hailed in the break-up of Yugoslavia, the war in Chechnya, and a variety of conflicts in the Transcaucasus region. These new conflicts suggested that the end of bipolarity would not necessarily lead to a more peaceful ‘new world order’. Greater international cooperation and integration across Western and Eastern Europe seemed possible for the first time since 1945 and have been achieved with the enlargement of NATO and the European Union. At the same time the fragmentation of established countries and alliances after the end of the Cold War has illustrated the complexities of the new international security environment.
