ABSTRACT
A security community is based on a common identity that sustains dependable expectations of peaceful change and thus makes war unthinkable. When political units see each other as extensions of themselves it is irrational for them to prepare for war against each other and threats to the other are seen as threats to themselves. This chapter focuses on the political dimension of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance and on the economic dimension of the Bretton Woods institutions. It discusses the dilemma American policy faced in seeking to preserve and extend the principles that underpinned the transatlantic security community based around NATO. The chapter also discusses the Wilsonian principles of self-determination and non-discrimination as the basis for the transatlantic security community and shows how the defence of those principles was sometimes opposed by Realists who believed they should have been compromised in order to deter or negotiate with the Soviet Union.
