ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has succeeded all too well in doing what it set out to do—in the words of Lord Ismay, NATO's first Secretary General, "to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down." NATO's importance will diminish over the long run, and the Alliance is likely to devolve into a looser security arrangement at significantly lower levels of military force. Ultimately, NATO's future will depend upon whether it is able to meet the challenges of the new Europe. Various proposals have been offered to change or replace NATO and the two-bloc system with alternative security arrangements. By charting a new direction for NATO and expanding the role of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, new institutional pillars in Europe will recognize legitimate Western and Eastern interests in political, economic, and security matters.
