NATO and European security: the creative use of an international organization

Abstract

This essay deals with Europe's experience in regional security building. In the author's view, it is hard to find much comfort for the Middle East in the modern history of security management in Europe. Certain basic elements which made the process work in Europe are lacking in the Middle East. Morgan discusses at length NATO's role in and contribution to the emergence of a pluralistic security community in Western Europe. It did so by developing a level of advanced multilateralism verging on integration, and by supplying the framework through which the powerful military capabilities of states with long histories of past conflicts and rivalries could coexist without provoking traditional fears and insecurities.