| The end of the Cold War raises questions concerning the future of NATO. Not the least of these is whether or not the Western Alliance will continue to cohere in anything like its traditional form. The study finds that as a defense resource, NATO is the best institution available to Europe and America in a period marked by turbulence and myriad insecurities. NATO offers a variety of capabilities, ranging from integrated military forces, cost efficiencies born of a collegial approach to defense, and a technology development network which allows for European access to American military know-how. NATO has also adapted to the times, and legal limits on the treaty's area of application will probably not impede the ability of Western powers, acting alone or in tandem with others, to defend their interests within and beyond Europe. NATO's institutional challengers, furthermore, are at present underdeveloped, and so long as this situation continues, NATO's future as the preeminent European defense and security institution seems assured NATO is not well-suited for handling all of Europe's security problems, and tasks for which the Western Alliance is ill-prepared imply that NATO will be obliged to share the work of re-stabilizing Europe with supplementary institutions such as the CSCE, WEU and EU. |
