The Future of NATO: Enlargement, Russia, and European Security

Grant Dawson is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in military history at
Carleton University.

The Future of NATO is a collection of papers on NATO’s expansion into
Eastern Europe. The book starts with several theoretical chapters
examining the pros and cons of the present expansion strategy, possible
alternative strategies, and whether the Alliance should be growing at
all. National perspectives follow in Part 2, and while they are mostly
those of the major players, there are also two chapters on the position
of Canada, a less powerful member that no longer has troops in Europe.
Part 3 discusses how NATO expansion affects Russia and Eastern Europe,
and asks whether expansion is the best way to cement European peace.

For the authors, NATO’s future swings on two hinges: the United
States and Russia. Gail Mattox argues persuasively that Congress and the
American public have generally supported enlargement. On the critical
Russian question, Mattox mostly approves of U.S. policy, which has been
to show interest in Moscow’s concerns without according the Russians a
veto within the Alliance.

Sergi argues that the West’s perceptions of Russia were too narrow
during the period when it decided to move forward with eastward
expansion into the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. The government
may be the focal point of policy, he concedes, but it has grown
increasingly suspicious of the West. Public opinion is no longer
uninterested in NATO, and the possibility of Moscow’s turning to
extreme or aggressive options is not so inconceivable. All in all,
Plekhanov argues, close future cooperation and consensus building remain
absolutely essential if the NATO–Russia relationship is not to sour.

The contributors, scholars from Canada, Europe, and the United States,
believe that NATO is a necessary and relevant organization and are
cautiously optimistic as to its future. Their book is a successful study
of NATO’s present and of the road ahead.