William T. Johnsen

Building a Better European Security Environment

The United States has the opportunity, perhaps fleeting, to shape the future European security environment to the common benefit of Europe and the United States. This article proffers a vision of what such a future security environment should look like. It identifies potential obstacles to achieving that vision and assesses prospective risks to US and European security interests should those hurdles not be overcome. The essay then outlines feasible political, economic, and military initiatives that could help turn the vision into reality. The article closes by offering policy recommendations.

NATO expansion and partnership for peace: Assessing the facts

With the changed security environment NATO has found itself having to grapple with a number of contentious issues—more so than most is that of its proposed expansion to integrate Central and Eastern European States; the PFP plan intended to facilitate this process has, according to the authors, yet to prove itself. Here Johnsen and Young provide a timely account of the problems and issues facing NATO and its varying responses to them. They acknowledge the complexities and criticisms’, asserting NATOs continuing importance in todays post‐Cold War environment, and the need to take time, to ensure that no irrevocable ‘mistakes are made in this crucial issue for future peace and security.