A European Security Architecture after the Cold War: Questions of Legitimacy

Abstract

The development of a European security architecture comprising NATO, the EU, WEU, and the OSCE is covered in this book, providing a critical account of the re-projection, and redefinition of values and institutions, in the post-Cold War era. This transformation is explored in three stages. The first stage covers the period 1990 to 1991, and explains the preservation of a western security community inherited from the Cold War, through a process of institutional reconstruction, largely carried out on paper. The second stage from 1991 to 1992 sees the incorporation of a purpose for these institutions as a framework for the implementation of collective security. The third stage explores the emerging questions of legitimacy surrounding the new tasks of these institutions.