Cooperating for Peace and Security attempts to understand - more than fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, seven years after 9/11, and in the aftermath of the failure of the United Nations reform initiative - the relationship between US security interests and the factors that drove the evolution of multilateral security arrangements from 1989 to the present.
The editors take as a starting point the argument that this evolution has occurred along two major lines and within three phases. Either existing mechanisms have been adapted to address emerging threats, or entirely new instruments have been created - and these changes have largely taken place within the timeframes of 1989 to 9/11, 9/11 to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and from 2003 to the present. Chapters cover a range of topics - including the United Nations, U.S. multilateral cooperation, NATO, nuclear non-proliferation, European and African security institutions, conflict mediation, counter-terrorism initiatives, international justice, and humanitarian cooperation - examining why certain changes have taken place and the factors that have driven them and evaluating whether they have led to a more effective international system and what this means for facing future challenges.