ABSTRACT
Cooperation and its absence are hot topics in international relations. The former is at heart of the European project, and so in some ways is the latter. The survival of NATO beyond the Cold War, and the desire of former communist states to join, illustrates the robust nature of certain forms of cooperation. From the perspective of the Bush administration, the failure of NATO to participate in the so-called Coalition of the Willing, or to assume the kind of “out of area” responsibilities perennially sought after by Washington is a stunning example of noncooperation. Not only alliances but also states and the societies on which they rest are held together by various forms of cooperation, the breakdown of which lead to state collapse and civil war.
