NATO and Terrorism: Organizational Expansion and Mission Transformation - Tapa blanda

"Book reveals substantial challenges to NATO during last twenty years. Jim Peterson depicts how NATO moved from predictable Cold War situation into multilateral nature of post 1989 security risks. Peterson's level of expertise is based on substantial research which includes not only up to date literature in English but significant portion of primary and secondary resources in Czech, Slovak or German language. Such a broad variety of resources helps Jim Peterson to create a balanced picture of NATO's role in last two decades as well as to underline important upcoming task for the organization. Presented text reflects carefully peculiarities of NATO enlargement, through movement towards active participation in different world conflict zones up to recent attempt to define future meaning of the organization. Peterson's book is substantial contribution to debate on current state of security studies." -Jiri Lach, Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Professor Peterson deftly weaves together major security challenges, ranging from global terrorism to missile defense, and NATO's post-Cold War missions and expansion. He breaks new ground by evaluating the potential contributions of each new NATO member to the ongoing struggles faced by the Atlantic Alliance, in the process demonstrating that eastward NATO expansion has not been a mindless march toward inclusiveness. Peterson also displays an acute grasp of geopolitical considerations and NATO's need to tie its various challenges together into a coherent strategic vision. -Robert Evanson, University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"NATO and Terrorism" posits that the post 9/11 war on terrorism has had a profound effect on NATO's post Cold War structure and military missions. "NATO and Terrorism" focuses on the decades from 1989 until 2009, during which NATO underwent two major transformations. The first was the expansion from sixteen to twenty-six member states. This section traces the evolution of the new member states from communist enemies to democratic partners, looking at their differences and similarities, the reactions of their publics to membership, and their involvement in NATO activities. The second was the radical shift in the missions of the alliance and the book analyzes the military operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq as well as the new issue of the Missile Shield for Europe. Both sections also look at how inclusion of more states is predicated on the conclusion that their geopolitical position makes them a barrier against terrorism centered further east and how the missions involve the struggle against several varieties of terrorism.