ABSTRACT
By 1996 the North Atlantic alliance had surpassed, in its size and duration, every other peacetime alliance in history. It had been formed as a counterweight to Soviet military power in Europe; and its future seemed uncertain now that eastern Europe was no longer under Soviet control and western Europe no longer feared Soviet domination. Yet new conflicts in Europe led to new calls for its services. The first combat operations ever carried out under its formal control were air strikes in 1994-95 against Bosnian Serbs. In 1996 it was directing the activities of a 60,000strong peace-keeping force in Bosnia (15).
