NATO1997     Year of Change

Dramatic changes since 1989 have required the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to rethink its force structure as well as to reconsider how to maintain the peace and security of Europe. In the strategic vacuum created by the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, NATO sought to establish cooperative relations with the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. Organizing that cooperation rapidly led to the Partnership for Peace program and the enlargement of the alliance to include new democratic states in the region.

The enlargement of NATO, however, is not occurring in isolation. The European Security Defense Identity, the Western European Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe also have been active. Enlargement is beset by a number of basic questions: which nations should become new members of the alliance; which states are interested in joining the alliance but unable to meet democratic, civil-military, or free market economic criteria for admission; and how can the Russian Federation be reassured of the benefits of enlargement as it copes with political and economic reform.

In March 1997 the National Defense University sponsored a symposium entitled NATO: After the Madrid Summit, challenging participants to think about issues that would transcend the NATO heads of government summit set for July 1997. This volume consists of selected papers from that symposium. Because the authors looked beyond the Madrid summit, we trust readers will find this volume of enduring value as the process of enlargement continues to unfold.

Richard A. Chilcoat
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army
President, National Defense University