NATO’s 2010 Strategic Concept officially broadened the alliance’s mission beyond collective defense, reflecting a peaceful Europe and changes in alliance activities. NATO had become an international security facilitator, a crisis-manager even outside Europe, and a liberal democratic club as much as a mutual-defense organization. However, Russia’s re-entry into great power politics has changed NATO’s strategic calculus.

Russia’s aggressive annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its ongoing military support for Ukrainian separatists dramatically altered the strategic environment and called into question the liberal European security order. States bordering Russia, many of which are now NATO members, are worried, and the alliance is divided over assessments of Russia’s behavior.  Against the backdrop of Russia’s new assertiveness, an international group of scholars examines a broad range of issues in the interest of not only explaining recent alliance developments but also making recommendations about critical choices confronting the NATO allies. While a renewed emphasis on collective defense is clearly a priority, this volume’s contributors caution against an overcorrection, which would leave the alliance too inwardly focused, play into Russia’s hand, and exacerbate regional fault lines always just below the surface at NATO. This volume places rapid-fire events in theoretical perspective and will be useful to foreign policy students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

Rebecca R. Moore is a professor of political science at Concordia College. She is the author of NATO’s New Mission: Projecting Stability in a Post–Cold War World and coeditor of NATO in Search of a Vision. 

Damon Coletta is a professor of political science at the US Air Force Academy. He coedited American Defense Policy, 8th Edition, authored Trusted Guardian: Information Sharing and the Future of the Atlantic Alliance, and is editor of the journal Space & Defense.

List of Illustrations Foreword by Nicholas Burns AcknowledgmentsAbbreviations

Introduction: Alliance, Identity, and GeopoliticsRebecca R. Moore and Damon Coletta1. Force Posture after NATO’s Return to Europe: Too Little, Too LateJohn R. Deni2. NATO’s Return: Implications for Extended DeterrenceSchuyler Foerster3. NATO’s Enlargement Policy to Ukraine and Beyond: Prospects and OptionsAndrew T. Wolff4. NATO’s Territorial Defense: The Global Approach and the Regional ApproachMagnus Petersson5. Still Learning? NATO’s Afghan Lessons beyond the Ukraine CrisisSten Rynning6. European Security at a Crossroads after Ukraine? Institutionalization of Partnerships and Compliance with NATO’s Security PoliciesIvan Dinev Ivanov7. The Purpose of NATO Partnership: Sustaining Liberal Order beyond the Ukraine CrisisRebecca R. Moore8. NATO- Russia Technical Cooperation: Unheralded ProspectsDamon Coletta9. The Ukraine Crisis and Beyond: Strategic Opportunity or Strategic Dilemma for the China- Russia Strategic Partnership?Huiyun FengConclusion and Comment: NATO’s Ever- Evolving IdentityStanley R. Sloan

List of Contributors Index