Focusing on NATO's continued crisis of identity, Joyce P. Kaufman argues that the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo have proven to be critical to an alliance that has not been able to define its roles and missions in the post-Cold War world. While, on the one hand, NATO was enlarging by inviting former adversaries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to join, on the other hand it has been woefully unprepared to deal with the ethnic conflicts that erupted on its borders and that could undermine the peace and stability of Europe. The author contends that the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia have potentially threatened the essence of NATO by forcing the alliance to take on the new role of peacekeeper without adequately allowing the members to examine the role the alliance wants to or should play in a largely postcommunist world. Despite ongoing discussion in NATO ministerial summits, the alliance has made little progress to date and public questions about the role and even the viability of NATO after the Cold War continue to grow. The inability to address these issues leaves NATO facing a number of pressing questions that this book tries to answer: What role can and should the alliance play in the future? And why have the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans proven to be a challenge that the alliance has been unwilling or unable to resolve?

A discussion of the political illusion created by the humanitarian bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 that tests popular beliefs

Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.

"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) expansion into the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) states after intervening with military and peace enforcement operations reveals unique alliance behaviors. The SFRY was a non-aligned state during the Cold War but when the republic states declared independence a brutal civil war erupted. NATO militarily intervened to reestablish peace and security. After establishing a peace settlement, all the former SFRY states developed formal relationships with NATO. In this thesis, the author examines and seeks to explain the former states' behavior towards NATO. The former SFRY states uniquely and simultaneously exhibit convergent and divergent alliance behaviors. Each former SFRY state sought formal ties with NATO but diverge on membership. This author argues that the alliance behavior of each former SFRY state is the product of a unique mix of the threat-based environment, historical context, and domestic politics."--Abstract.

A number of distinguished dissidents voice their opinions on the intervention by NATO in the former Yugoslavia. The collection also provides background historical information on the conflict in the Balkans.

The end of the Cold War called into question NATO's relevance to the new global security environment. The Alliance's aspirations for a broader future security role are packaged in a structural initiative: the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF). CJTF is designed to provide a mechanism for crisis response and peacekeeping operations conducted beyond Allied borders by variable coalitions of NATO members and associates. Also, CJTF is intended to facilitate better resource-sharing between the U.S. and the European Allies, permitting the Europeans to undertake some missions without direct U.S. involvement. Such arrangements will promote a distinct European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) within the Alliance, as well as helping to satisfy the American desire to share more of the global security burden with Europe. Events in the former Yugoslavia have provided impetus for the Alliance's evolution, as well as creating a proving ground for its new initiatives. In the absence of a final agreement on CJTF, the Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia is serving as a prototype. This thesis examines the CJTF concept's historical and strategic underpinnings, surveys the current state of the CJTF debate, and illustrates how NATO's experiences in the former Yugoslavia have contributed to the Alliance's post-Cold War renaissance.