Military Alliances In The Twenty First Century

Alliance politics is a regular headline grabber. When a possible military crisis involving Russia, North Korea, or China rears its head, leaders and citizens alike raise concerns over the willingness of US allies to stand together. As rival powers have tightened their security cooperation, the United States has stepped up demands that its allies increase their defense spending and contribute more to military operations in the Middle East and elsewhere. The prospect of former President Donald Trump unilaterally ending alliances alarmed longstanding partners, even as NATO was welcoming new members into its ranks. Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century is the first book to explore fully the politics that shape these security arrangements – from their initial formation through the various challenges that test them and, sometimes, lead to their demise. Across six thematic chapters, Alexander Lanoszka challenges conventional wisdom that has dominated our understanding of how military alliances have operated historically and into the present. Although military alliances today may seem uniquely hobbled by their internal difficulties, Lanoszka argues that they are in fact, by their very nature, prone to dysfunction.

The global system of alliances that the United States built after the Second World War underpinned the stability and prosperity of the postwar order. But during the 20th century, the multilateral NATO alliance system in Europe and the bilateral San Francisco alliance system in Asia rarely interacted. This changed in the early 21st century, as US allies came together to fight and stabilise conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia. This volume presents the first-ever comparative study of US alliances in Europe and Asia from the perspectives of US allies: the challenges, opportunities and shifting dynamics of these fundamental pillars of order. This volume is essential reading for those interested in contemporary and future regional and global security dynamics.

A broad-ranging study of the relationship between alliances and the conduct of grand strategy, examined through historical case studies.

With many of the most important new military systems of the past decade produced by small firms that won competitive government contracts, defense-industry consultant James Hasik argues in Arms and Innovation that small firms have a number of advantages relative to their bigger competitors. Such firms are marked by an entrepreneurial spirit and fewer bureaucratic obstacles, and thus can both be more responsive to changes in the environment and more strategic in their planning. This is demonstrated, Hasik shows, by such innovation in military technologies as those that protect troops from roadside bombs in Iraq and the Predator drones that fly over active war zones and that are crucial to our new war on terror. For all their advantages, small firms also face significant challenges in access to capital and customers. To overcome such problems, they can form alliances either with each other or with larger companies. Hasik traces the trade-offs of such alliances and provides crucial insight into their promises and pitfalls. This ground-breaking study is a significant contribution to understanding both entrepreneurship and alliances, two crucial factors in business generally. It will be of interest to readers in the defense sector as well as the wider business community.

Alliances have shaped grand strategy and warfare since the dawn of civilization. Indeed, it is doubtful that the United States of America would have gained its independence without its Revolutionary War alliance with France. Such alliances may prove even more important to international security in the twenty-first century. Economic and financial difficulties alone will ensure that policy makers attempt to spread the burden of securing vital interests onto other nations through alliances, both formal organizations such as NATO and informal alliances of convenience as developed to wage the Gulf War in 1991. A team of leading historians examine the problems inherent in alliance politics and relationships in the framework of grand strategy through the lens of history. Aimed at not just the military aspects of alliances, the book uncovers the myriad factors that have made such coalitions succeed or fail in the past.

The global system of alliances that the United States built after the Second World War underpinned the stability and prosperity of the postwar order. But during the 20th century, the multilateral NATO alliance system in Europe and the bilateral San Francisco alliance system in Asia rarely interacted. This changed in the early 21st century, as US allies came together to fight and stabilise conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia. This volume presents the first-ever comparative study of US alliances in Europe and Asia from the perspectives of US allies: the challenges, opportunities and shifting dynamics of these fundamental pillars of order. This volume is essential reading for those interested in contemporary and future regional and global security dynamics.

"Small states can make a big difference for an entire region not only for their potential nuicence value, but also for their active contributions to uphold international order from a neutral or buffer-state position. This book is very valuable for its concrete discussions of exactly how this has played out, particularly in post-Cold War Europe." -Iver B. Neumann, Co-editor of Small State Status-Seeking "Arguably, most of the states of the world are neither great powers nor middle powers, rather small states. Most of these small states are not members of military alliances. In her book, Radoman, goes in-depth analysing this universal phenomenon, hence presenting new and most welcomed knowledge. She presents valuable insights in the fields of Foreign Policy Analysis as well as Strategic Studies." -Håkan Edström, Associate Professor in Political Science and Senior Lecturer in War Studies, Swedish National Defence University, Stockholm, Sweden "If you want to know why states still opt for military neutrality in the twenty-first century, this is a book for you! To explain how two very different states, Sweden and Serbia, adopted a similar policy, Radoman draws on an eclectic theoretical framework. The book will also be a real treat for anyone interested in small states and their defense policies and European security more generally." - Filip Ejdus, Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia This book explores the factors that account for military neutrality as a security strategy for small states. Through comparing the cases of Serbia and Sweden the book introduces a novel conceptual framework that is built against existing knowledge in the small states and military neutrality literature. Drawing on different theoretical frameworks, the model explains why certain small states choose to stay outside of military alliances in the twenty-first century. Jelena Radoman holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Her work is related to security sector reform and security integrations. She currently works for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy in Belgrade.

This volume provides an overview of the evolution of NATO, alliances and global security governance in the twenty-first century.