The Dawn of Peace in Europe

Mandelbaum's "The Dawn of Peace in Europe" is a well-researched and articulate piece detailing the future of NATO and of American involvement in Europe. Though short, it is detailed in its analysis and provides the reader with a clear understanding of his position. In it, Mandelbaum attempts to analyse the role of NATO, and critique the directions that other have prescribed for the alliance. Mandelbaum feels that the best course of activity for the alliance is to stay as it is, and redirect its energies into "reassuring" the perpetuation of the common security order that exists in Europe. He feels that NATO is poorly equipped to pursue out-of-area missions, such as the one in Bosnia, and that expansion of NATO is a mistake because it installs victor's justice on Russia, and this justice will be remembered by the Russian people as an insult. It appears as though this analysis regarding the impact NATO expansion will have on Russia is somewhat of a knee-jerk reactions. Opinion has shown consistently that the Russian people do not care if NATo expands and do not feel that it is necessarily a threat to their security. Furthermore, many analysts including Andrei Kortunov have written their opinions on this issue and have shown that only in the most extreme case would there be a nationalist backlash against NATO expansion. Mandelbaum still views Russia as the enemy of NATO, as it was through the Cold War, and thus his view of the alliance may be somewhat dated. Despite this however, he provides the reader with a clear approach to the future of European security. Mandelbaum articulates the idea of a common security order existing in Europe now that ensures the peace without the high costs of balance of power politics and without the unrealistic tenets of world government. Whether or not a security order continues to exist, according to Mandelbaum will depend on whether or not Russia will stay peaceful and if the United States will stay in European defence mechanisms. If things reamain as is, Europe will be the bastion of peace in an all too unpeaceful world. I recommend this book for all analysts interested in European security.