Almost NATO : partners and players in Central and Eastern European security /

Almost NATO is almost a perfect introduction to the problems and prospects of NATO enlargement in Eastern Europe. The ten contributed chapters present a solid general overview of NATO's evolution toward 21st-century security and political roles in and out of Europe, including brief discussions of new leadership roles for the US and NATO as an international actor, and a particular review of the moves of Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and the Baltic States toward membership or close association with NATO. While the details (and endless footnotes) of these chapters might tax the general reader, the case studies approach to the military, social, ethnic, political, and economic factors associated with the pursuit of NATO membership is insightful and is assisted by this volume's reliance on a diverse set of American and European research professionals. While one might yearn for more coverage of US, Western European, and Russian argument or of the impact of divisions among the major powers over how to deal with global terrorism, weapons proliferation, or unilateral versus multilateral tendencies of the US, the detail on Central and Eastern Europe is the book's objective, and it is well met. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. L. S. Hulett Knox College