In this volume, Ivanov provides a new and valuable perspective on why NATO did not fade away at the end of the Cold War. Dr. Ivanov argues convincingly that understanding NATO's post Cold War evolution requires examining the dynamic intersections of three processes: membership expansion, mission enlargement and capabilities transformation. This analysis debunks arguments that NATO would become irrelevant ... Read morein the absence of the Soviet threat as well as those warning that expanded NATO's membership would bring decision-making to its knees. This book makes a valuable contribution to the discussion of why NATO members continue to value the alliance, even with its shortcomings and fault lines.
Stanley R. Sloan, visiting scholar at Middlebury College and author of Permanent Alliance? NATO and the Transatlantic Bargain from Truman to Ob Using new theoretical perspectives, Ivan Ivanov's Transforming the Club provides innovative and compelling explanations for NATO's ongoing transformation. The book is a welcome addition to the literature on NATO's new members, its array of new missions, and the alliance's evolving capabilities.
Ryan C. Hendrickson, professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and author of Diplomacy and War at NATO: The Secretary General This analysis of NATO's transformation over the past two decades is required reading for all scholars of the subject. It lucidly explains the relationship between NATO's gradual expansion, its changing mission, and its altered capabilities and resources. Here is a masterly study of the alliance's foreign and security policy and how it has evolved in a changing world.
William Howard Taft IV, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1984–1989, and former U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO Ivanov (Univ. of Cincinnati) provides a novel, interesting set of analytical approaches to examine NATO's post-Cold War missions, capabilities, and new members. The author advances the ideas of club goods theory as well as "complementarities" to help understand the widespread changes in NATO's evolution from a conservative Cold War military alliance to the current, ever-expanding role it plays in global security affairs. Ivanov views all of these changes in a rather holistic sense, noting how new missions impact new members, as well as result in an expansion of different capabilities. This book offers an excellent overview of the many changes witnessed in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse, including examinations of NATO's operations in the Balkans, as well as an excellent chapter on NATO's struggling mission in Afghanistan. Chapter 5, which focuses upon NATO's newest allies and various partners that work with the alliance, is another especially useful chapter. Ivanov draws from an extensive body of NATO scholarship as well as his own personal interviews to produce an impressive addition to the literature. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduate readers and above.
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