Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book illustrates the case for caution in Yugoslavia was and remains a strong one in Washington. It explores Antiforeign violence in Germany which provides a compelling example. The book discusses the tensions that were produced among the Western Europeans late in 1991 and early in 1992 as a result of a very different understanding of the need for early recognition of Slovenia and Croatia. It demonstrates, between that time and the meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) foreign ministers in Oslo, a succession of declarations and announcements would testify to the need felt by all to make the alliance's force structure respond to the requirements of crisis management. NATO officials and policymakers in the member states have assuredly been attentive to the requirements of continued alliance existence in an era when "chaos" and not the Soviet Union constitutes the threat.