Why NATO Endures

by Wallace J. Thies

• ISBN13: 9780521749794
• ISBN10: 0521749794
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Why NATO Endures examines military alliances and their role in international relations, developing two themes. The first is that the Atlantic Alliance, also known as NATO, has become something very different from virtually all pre-1939 alliances and many contemporary alliances. The members of early alliances frequently feared their allies as much if not more than their enemies, viewing them as temporary accomplices and future rivals. In contrast, NATO members were almost all democracies that encouraged each other to grow stronger. The book's second theme is that NATO, as an alliance of democracies, has developed hidden strengths that have allowed it to endure for roughly 60 years, unlike most other alliances, which often broke apart within a few years. Democracies can and do disagree with one another, but they do not fear each other. They also need the approval of other democracies as they conduct their foreign policies. These traits constitute built-in, self-healing tendencies, which is why NATO endures.

Author Biography

Wallace J. Thies, a Yale Ph.D., has held full-time teaching positions in political science at the University of Connecticut (Storrs), the University of California, Berkeley, and the Catholic University of America. Why NATO Endures is his third book. His two previous books are When Governments Collide: Coercion and Diplomacy in the Vietnam Conflict (1980) and Friendly Rivals: Bargaining and Burden-Shifting in NATO (2003). He has also published articles in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Strategic Studies, International Interactions, Comparative Strategy, and European Security and has served as an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, working at the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, and as a NATO Research Fellow.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
The Curious Relationship	p. 1
The Alliance Crisis Syndrome	p. 2
Exaggerated Claims	p. 3
Unexamined Premises	p. 7
Superficial Comparisons	p. 9
A Crisis in the Alliance: Concept Clarification	p. 14
A Crisis in the Alliance: Concept Development	p. 18
Getting Out of a Blind Alley	p. 20
Rivalry and Community in Interstate Alliances Prior to the Second World War	p. 25
Alliances in Eighteenth-Century Europe	p. 27
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars	p. 39
European Alliances, 1822-1854	p. 52
Alliances during the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century	p. 57
The First World War	p. 71
Alliances during the Interwar Period	p. 82
Creating a Contentious Alliance	p. 87
American Views on the Need for an Alliance	p. 90
Military Arrangements	p. 99
The Impact of the Korean War	p. 106
Putting the "Collective" in Collective Defense	p. 113
A Contentious Alliance	p. 116
Why NATO Is Different	p. 120
The Transformation of Alliance Relationships	p. 120
Why NATO Is Different (I): The Political Consequences of Military Integration	p. 127
Why NATO Is Different (II): The Choices Allies Face	p. 130
Why NATO Is Different (III): Interests and Outcomes	p. 134
Why These Differences Matter	p. 139
NATO and the Military Balance	p. 140
NATO during the 1950s: The Crisis over Soviet Ballistic Missiles	p. 142
Background	p. 142
Why the Missiles Issue was Thought to be a NATO Crisis	p. 148
What Actually Happened?	p. 149
The Strategic Balance and Extended Deterrence	p. 150
The Conventional Imbalance	p. 157
The Suicide/Surrender Dilemma	p. 163
Conclusion	p. 173
The INF Crisis	p. 175
Background	p. 175
Why the INF Case was Thought to be a NATO Crisis	p. 182
What Actually Happened?	p. 185
NATO Missiles and European Attitudes	p. 186
Did Any NATO Member Cross the Crisis Threshold?	p. 190
Resisting Soviet Coercion	p. 197
Conclusion	p. 199
NATO and the Out-of-Area Issue	p. 202
The 1956 Suez Crisis	p. 203
Background	p. 203
Why Suez was Thought to be a NATO Crisis	p. 205
What Actually Happened?	p. 207
Conclusion	p. 218
The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan	p. 222
Background	p. 222
Why the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan was Thought to be a NATO Crisis	p. 226
What Actually Happened?	p. 230
The Afghanistan Case in Retrospect	p. 239
Conclusion	p. 240
Nonmilitary Issues	p. 242
The Soviet Pipeline Crisis	p. 243
Background	p. 243
Why the Pipeline Issue was Thought to be NATO's Worst Crisis Ever	p. 253
What Actually Happened?	p. 257
Conclusion	p. 272
The Bosnian Civil War	p. 273
Background	p. 273
Why Bosnia was Thought to be NATO's Worst Crisis Ever	p. 276
What Actually Happened?	p. 279
Conclusion	p. 284
Why NATO Endures	p. 287
Why NATO Is Different	p. 287
Why NATO Endures	p. 294
The Iraq Crisis Revisited	p. 302
A Final Word	p. 306
Index	p. 309
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