Cooperating for Peace and Security: Evolving Institutions and Arrangements in a Context of Changing U.S. Security Policy

Cooperating for Peace and Security is a comprehensive survey of multilateral security cooperation since 1989. With essays by leading experts on topics from peacekeeping to nuclear security, it goes beyond theoretical discussions of the value of cooperation to show how the operational activities of international organizations meet the security needs of states. In particular, it explores the complex relationship between multilateralism and American security concerns. Covering the UN, NATO, and regional organizations, the authors show that U.S. interests have often shaped institutions. But, more strikingly, other states have also driven institutional change without U.S. support or even in the face of American opposition. This raises important questions about how the balance of power shapes international institutions. In a period of shifting power dynamics, the empirical evidence on security cooperation gathered in this volume is a unique resource for scholars and policy-makers concerned with the future of international institutions.

Bruce D. Jones is the Director of the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He directs Managing Global Insecurity, a joint project of Brookings and CIC on the global partnerships and international institutions needed to meet 21st-century challenges. Shepard Forman is Director Emeritus and Senior Fellow of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. Prior to founding the Center, he directed the Human Rights and Governance and International Affairs programs at the Ford Foundation. Richard Gowan is Research Associate and Associate Director for Policy at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. He works on peacekeeping, multilateral security arrangements, and human rights and is a Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.