Uncertain Europe: Building a new European security order?

Book abstract:

Gone are the past certainties of Cold War strategies together with the simplicities of clearly identified protagonists. A New Order is in the making and the institutions EU and NATO will be put under strain as they grapple with the changing nature of 'order' and 'security' and the problems of enlargement - inclusion and exclusion.

These and other related issues are addressed in this volume by a specially commissioned team of experts, spanning the related disciplines of international relations, security studies and European studies. Organised in four parts; the first explores three key concepts as they relate to contemporary Europe: order; security and identity. The second part considers the leading institutions at work in Europe - OSCE, NATO and the EU and particularly the capacity of the latter to develop as a 'hard' security actor. National and regional perspectives on order, security and identity are brought together in the third part and contributors explore attitudes to and about the institutions, specifically EU and NATO. In the fourth part the editors draw together the main arguments and debates revealed and developed by the contributors. They seek to identify the main elements of a 'genuine' European security order and then assess to what extent such an order is in process of being constructed in the post-Cold War context in Europe.

The work will interest students, researchers and practitioners in the field of International Relations, Strategic Studies and European Studies.

Martin A. Smith is Senior Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK. Graham Timmins is Senior Lecturer in European Politics in the Department of Politics, University of Stirling.