Why do Britain, France, and Italy provide or refuse military support for U.S.-led uses of force? This book provides a unique, multiple-case study analysis of transatlantic burden-sharing. Sixty original interviews with top policymakers and analysts provide insight into allies' decisions regarding the Kosovo War, Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.

"America's New Alliesgives readers an informative and incisive analysis of the contribution that NATO's three new members will be making to enhance Euro-Atlantic security. The book provides a timely refutation to all the nay-sayers who failed to understand that NATO's enlargement greatly enhances the prospects of a secure and peaceful Europe."--Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies "By examining the expansion of NATO as a process of post-communist integration,America's New Alliesmakes a significant contribution to our understanding of East Central Europe's role in our common security future."--Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University America's New Alliescomprehensively analyzes the strengths and liabilities that accompany the 1999 addition of three former Soviet satellite nations--Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic--to the ranks of the 16-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This controversial enlargement of NATO formalizes the new geopolitical realities in Eastern Europe and forces the U.S. military to confront the prospect of defending these former enemies against armed attack. This round of enlargement is part of a larger restructuring of NATO underway since the end of the Cold War and tested by NATO's 1999 action in Kosovo. The current enlargement--together with the prospect of adding other countries to NATO and the unprecedented institutional challenges highlighted during the Kosovo conflict--represents a defining moment for the emerging post-Cold War security architecture and, in turn, for the long-term relationship between the United States and Europe. The issues discussed inAmerica's New Allieswill be vigorously debated for years to come.

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"America's New Alliesgives readers an informative and incisive analysis of the contribution that NATO's three new members will be making to enhance Euro-Atlantic security. The book provides a timely refutation to all the nay-sayers who failed to understand that NATO's enlargement greatly enhances the prospects of a secure and peaceful Europe."--Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies "By examining the expansion of NATO as a process of post-communist integration,America's New Alliesmakes a significant contribution to our understanding of East Central Europe's role in our common security future."--Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University America's New Alliescomprehensively analyzes the strengths and liabilities that accompany the 1999 addition of three former Soviet satellite nations--Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic--to the ranks of the 16-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This controversial enlargement of NATO formalizes the new geopolitical realities in Eastern Europe and forces the U.S. military to confront the prospect of defending these former enemies against armed attack. This round of enlargement is part of a larger restructuring of NATO underway since the end of the Cold War and tested by NATO's 1999 action in Kosovo. The current enlargement--together with the prospect of adding other countries to NATO and the unprecedented institutional challenges highlighted during the Kosovo conflict--represents a defining moment for the emerging post-Cold War security architecture and, in turn, for the long-term relationship between the United States and Europe. The issues discussed inAmerica's New Allieswill be vigorously debated for years to come.

How do America’s democratic allies perceive and respond to a relative decline in US power and influence and the simultaneous rise of China? Using the case-studies of Europe, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and South East Asian countries, this book offers a broad assessment of the perceptions of threat and the strategies used by these allies to cope with the relative decline of America’s hegemonic power, the rise of China and the transforming world order. In answering these central questions, contributors focus on two complementary analytical approaches. The first examines the perceptions of systemic changes by America’s allies: how are US allies framing this issue and what kind of political discourse is emerging with regards to it? The second approach focuses on the concrete foreign policy and defence strategies put forward by these allies. The book explores the extent to which US allies are willing to support US hegemony and considers the democratic allies’ understanding of the international structure, their relations to the United States, and their own aspirations in this changing world order. This book will be of interest to general readers as well as scholars and students of US foreign policy, foreign policy analysis and International Relations.

Of all the countries in the world that are vital to the strategic and economic interests of the United States, Saudi Arabia is the least understood by the American people. Saudi Arabia's unique place in Islam makes it indispensable to a constructive relationship between the non-Muslim West and the Muslim world. For all its wealth, the country faces daunting challenges that it lacks the tools to meet: a restless and young population, a new generation of educated women demanding opportunities in a closed society, political stagnation under an octogenarian leadership, religious extremism and intellectual backwardness, social division, chronic unemployment, shortages of food and water, and troublesome neighbors. Today's Saudi people, far better informed than all previous generations, are looking for new political institutions that will enable them to be heard, but these aspirations conflict with the kingdom's strict traditions and with the House of Saud's determination to retain all true power. Meanwhile, the country wishes to remain under the protection of American security but still clings to a system that is antithetical to American values. Basing his work on extensive interviews and field research conducted in the kingdom from 2008 through 2011 under the auspices of the Council on Foreign Relations, Thomas W. Lippman dissects this central Saudi paradox for American readers, including diplomats, policymakers, scholars, and students of foreign policy.

During World War II, Japan was vilified by America as our hated enemy. As the Cold War heated up, however, the U.S. government decided to make Japan its bulwark against communism in Asia. In this revelatory work, Naoko Shibusawa charts the remarkable reversal from hated enemy to valuable ally that occurred in the two decades after the war.