Opening NATO's Door : How the Alliance Remade Itself for a New Era

by Asmus, Ronald D.; Robertson of Port Ellen, George, Lord

• ISBN13: 9780231127769
• ISBN10: 0231127766
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

How and why did NATO, a Cold War military alliance created in 1949 to counter Stalin's USSR, become the cornerstone of new security order for post-Cold War Europe? Why, instead of retreating from Europe after communism's collapse, did the U.S. launch the greatest expansion of the American commitment to the old continent in decades? Written by a high-level insider, Opening NATO's Door provides a definitive account of the ideas, politics, and diplomacy that went into the historic decision to expand NATO to Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on the still-classified archives of the U.S. Department of State, Ronald D. Asmus recounts how and why American policymakers, against formidable odds at home and abroad, expanded NATO as part of a broader strategy to overcome Europe's Cold War divide and to modernize the Alliance for a new era. Asmus was one of the earliest advocates and intellectual architects of NATO enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism in the early 1990s and subsequently served as a top aide to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott, responsible for European security issues. He was involved in the key negotiations that led to NATO's decision to extend invitations to Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, the signing of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, and finally, the U.S. Senate's ratification of enlargement. Asmus documents how the Clinton Administration sought to develop a rationale for a new NATO that would bind the U.S. and Europe together as closely in the post-Cold War era as they had been during the fight against communism. For the Clinton Administration, NATO enlargement became the centerpiece of a broader agenda to modernize the U.S.-European strategic partnership for the future. That strategy reflected an American commitment to the spread of democracy and Western values, the importance attached to modernizing Washington's key alliances for an increasingly globalized world, and the fact that the Clinton Administration looked to Europe as America's natural partner in addressing the challenges of the twenty-first century. As the Alliance weighs its the future following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and prepares for a second round of enlargement, this book is required reading about the first post-Cold War effort to modernize NATO for a new era.

Author Biography

Ronald D. Asmus is Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
Foreword	xv
Lord Robertson
Acknowledgments	xix
Note on Sources	xxi
Introduction	xxiii
The Origins	1	(17)
An Ambiguous Pledge	3	(4)
Dismantling Yalta	7	(4)
Aligning with the West	11	(7)
The Debate Begins	18	(40)
Russia First	20	(9)
Making the Case	29	(11)
``We Need a Perspective''	40	(8)
The Partnership for Peace	48	(10)
Across the Rubicon	58	(41)
An Ambiguous Decision	60	(9)
Shifting Gears	69	(10)
Pressure from the Right	79	(7)
Holbrooke's Return	86	(7)
Across the Rubicon	93	(6)
Establishing the Dual Track	99	(35)
Establishing the NATO Track	101	(4)
A Parallel Track with Moscow	105	(6)
The May-for-May Deal	111	(7)
The Political Battle Heats Up	118	(6)
Bosnia and NATO Enlargement	124	(10)
Toward a New NATO	134	(41)
On the Back Burner	136	(3)
Sleeping with the Porcupine	139	(7)
Tough Love for Central and Eastern Europe	146	(9)
Ukraine and the Baltic States	155	(8)
``A Long Dance with Natasha''	163	(12)
The NATO-Russia Endgame	175	(37)
Madeleine's Vision	176	(5)
Chancellor Kohl Comes Through	181	(7)
The Road to Helsinki	188	(12)
Breakthrough at Helsinki	200	(4)
Playing Both Sides of the Chessboard	204	(8)
Head-to-Head at Madrid	212	(39)
Sintra	213	(8)
Playing the Heavy	221	(7)
A Baltic Challenge	228	(10)
Madrid	238	(7)
The Final Compromise	245	(6)
The Political Battle	251	(38)
Creating a Command Post: The Birth of S/NERO	253	(6)
The Campaign Starts	259	(8)
Dancing with Jesse Helms	267	(8)
New Members and New Missions	275	(7)
The Endgame	282	(7)
Conclusion	289	(18)
Notes	307	(54)
Index	361