United States foreign policy and European security policy in the Balkans, 1991--2001: An investigation into divergent approaches to crisis management and conflict resolution

The United States and the European Union were engaged in a series of crises in the Balkans between two major paradigm shifts in international relations, the dissolution of the USSR and the terrorist attack on New York and Washington of 11 September 2001. During this period, both American foreign policy and European security policy were challenged by the requirements of the new security environment. The thesis argues that the inefficiency of U.S. foreign policy negatively affected European security-policy development. Not only was European security seriously compromised: the viability of NATO was put at risk. Thus, despite overwhelming military superiority in the West, as each crisis unfolded, the United States was eventually compelled to act to preserve the Western Alliance.