Abstract
This article revisits one of the most important debates in international relations theory—that between realists and liberals over security institutions. A test of the realist challenge to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) shows realist assumptions were reflected in the institutional form the alliance took channeling American power to provide collective defense of Western Europe against the Soviet Union. However, realism failed to resonate with post–Cold War leaders who guided the alliance with a liberal vision focused on spreading Western values via military interventions and membership enlargement. The liberal approach to NATO was based on faulty assumptions about institutions and security, leading to inefficient military operations and costly overextension. NATO risked, by 2020, offering a false promise of security.
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