The Limits of Alliance The United States, NATO, and the EU in North and Central Europe

The Limits of Alliance surveys the security policies of the states in North and Central Europe in the context of the declining North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the emerging European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). It analyzes U.S. policy toward the region and examines the continued viability of alignments inherited from the Cold War era. It concludes that although NATO will continue to exist in the coming decade, the hollowing-out of the alliance will be accompanied by a shift in transatlantic security relations toward bilateralism determined by regional security considerations.

Andrew A. Michta is the Mertie W. Buckman Distinguished Professor of International Studies at Rhodes College in Tennessee (on leave 2005-2008), currently teaching as professor of national security studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany.