NATO's Post-Cold War Collective Action Problem

Overview

How successful will NATO be in undertaking out-of-area peace operations? Joseph Lepgold of Georgetown University suggests that NATO’s decision in the last decade to broaden its original mission from the collective self-defense of its members to include the use of NATO forces to resolve disputes on the territory of non-NATO members is highly problematic. He contends that NATO member governments will continue to be extremely reluctant to engage troops in collective actions when their security interests are not directly threatened. If NATO chooses to deploy troops, however, it should create Combined Joint Task Forces. These military commands, formed on an ad hoc basis for specific operations, offer NATO the best chance of success in future peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations.