Читать книгу NATO’s Enlargement and Russia - Группа авторов - Страница 6

Oxana Schmies

NATO’s eastward expansion partly addressed and partly exacerbated various unresolved European security problems that followed the end of the Cold War, making the Alliance’s enlargement one of the quintessential issues of contemporary international relations. This is premised on both NATO’s self-image as a political and military organization adhering to Western values, and the fact that Russia has never been integrated into it. NATO and the USSR/Russia have been interdependent since the alliance was formed, necessitating a continued search for mutually adequate security solutions by the West and Moscow. This will remain so at least until a more profound institutional change in or with NATO comes to pass.

A reassessment of NATO enlargement and the historical experience of NATO’s relationship with Russia since the 1990s can help develop a new strategy toward Russia. Since such a strategy is still evolving, now seems the right time for multi-layered policy recommendations. What does this book aim to be?

 It is a look on NATO and Russia primarily from outside of perspective of a “Russian challenge and Western response.”

 It is a look on NATO predominantly in its political dimension.

 It is a look at the period before and after NATO’s eastward expansion.

 It is also an attempt to unveil the thinking of the Russian leadership.

The authors of this volume have interdisciplinary backgrounds in politics, diplomacy, the military and academia. Among them are individuals who shaped the fundamental treaties between NATO (or “the West”) and Russia. The contributions provide a broad kaleidoscope of viewpoints, memories, surveys, interpretations, reflections and evaluations that are meant to stimulate thinking. The volume contains a number of implicit and explicit political recommendations and offers a broad variety of expertise to today’s policy planners and decision makers.