Nato and Caspian Security: A Mission Too Far [1999] [Paperback]

Richard Sokolsky (Author), Tanya Charlick-Paley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 1999

This report attempts to put the Caspian Basin and Central Asia into a comprehensive strategic perspective at a time when NATO is increasingly concerned with challenges on its periphery. The authors examine NATO's interests, capabilities, and constraints as well as th e salient trends and factors shaping the regional security environment. In spite of the region's potential energy riches and the jockeying for influence among major powers and oil interests, the authors suggest that NATO should see the region as a potential quagmire rather than as a vacuum waiting to be filled. The report discusses Western objectives and interests in the Caspian, internal and intraregional threats to Western interests, the competition for influence among outside powers, transnational threats, Caspian oil and energy security, and implications for NATO and Western policy and planning. The authors conclude that the West has limited interests

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The West's growing interest in the Caspian Basin and NATO's increasingconcern with challenges on its periphery raise an important question for the Atlantic Alliance as it ponders its future role, commitments, and security responsibilities: Given the nature of the West's security interests in the Caspian and Central Asia regions and the potential threats to those interests, what role should NATO play in a broader Western security strategy for the area?A great deal of what has been written and said in the West about theCaspian has lacked perspective. Many observers of the contemporaryCaspian scene have become intoxicated with the region's potentialenergy riches and the jockeying for influence among several majorpowers and international oil companies. The images that have beenconjured up of a new "great game" often serve to obscure rather thanclarify reality. As a result, many Western views of the Caspian overthe past decade have been marked by hype and slogans rather thanhard-headed analysis. This report tries to put the south Caucasus andCentral Asia into a broader strategic perspective. The authorscritically examine NATO's interests, priorities, capabilities andconstraints, and the political, economic, cultural, and security forcesshaping the regional security environment. After carefully weighingthe benefits of deepening the Alliance's involvement in the regionagainst the risks and costs, the authors suggest that NATO should seethe region, in general, more as a potential quagmire than as a strategicvacuum waiting to be filled.This study is part of a larger project on the implications of thechanging strategic environment in and around Europe for the United States and NATO. The project was sponsored by the Commander-in-Chief,U.S. Air Force in Europe, and by the Deputy Chief of Staff forOperations, Headquarters, United States Air Force. It was conductedin the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND's Project AIR FORCE.This study should be of particular interest to NATO planners, officialsin the U.S. government and Western countries involved in makingpolicy toward Central Asia and the south Caucasus, and, morebroadly, anyone interested in the implications of post-Cold Wargeopolitical dynamics for U.S. military planning and operations.PROJECT AIR FORCEProject AIR FORCE (PAF), a division of RAND, is the United StatesAir Force's federally funded research and development center(FFRDC) for studies and analyses. It provides the Air Force withindependent analyses of policy alternatives affecting the development,employment, combat readiness, and support of current and future airand space forces. Research is performed in four programs: AerospaceForce Development; Manpower, Personnel, and Training; ResourceManagement; and Strategy and Doctrine. Integrative research projects,and work on modeling and simulations, are conducted on a PAF-widebasis.

About the Author

Tanya CharlickPaley (PhD, Political Science) is an Associate Social Scientist at Rand. Research Interests include European Security, Civil-Military Relations, Force Planning, Organizational Change, Political Psychology (Leadership, Crisis Decision Making, and Long Range Planning), and Ethnic Nationalism.

Product Details

• Paperback: 135 pages
• Publisher: Rand Publishing (August 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0833027506
• ISBN-13: 978-0833027504
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,621,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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