ABSTRACT
There is an irreverent joke that it is illuminating to consider. NATO Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and EU High Representative, Javier Solana, are having breakfast with God. Conversation tilts this way and that in a spirit of camaraderie and good humor. Towards the end of breakfast de Hoop Scheffer puts a direct question to the allpowerful, all-seeing one. “Tell me, God, will NATO ever be a truly global security and defense organization?” God thinks hard about this question and after some reflection replies, “Yes, Jaap, but not in your lifetime.” Javier Solana, not to be outdone and having much experience of both NATO and the EU, poses a similar question. “God, will the EU ever be a functioning security and defense organization?” At first God looks baffled, and then worried, and after a seeming eternity replies: “Yes, Javier, but not in my lifetime.” That mythical exchange captures at least part of NATO’s reality (as it does the EU’s) as the organization takes on new roles in a new world. The central question posed by this book is: can NATO close the gap between the politicomilitary challenges the Allies face and the politico-military power it can generate? The central message of this book is that is precisely the challenge NATO has always faced, and indeed will face.
