Stephen J. Cimbala, Pennsylvania State University, USA and Dr Peter K. Forster, Pennsylvania State University, USA

Introduction; Chapter 1 Sharing Risks and Costs of Military Alliance: Burdens of Peace and War; Chapter 2 Case One: The Multinational Force in Lebanon 1982-1984 - National Collective Action; Chapter 3 Case Two: The Persian Gulf in 1990-1991 - Leadership and Legitimacy; Chapter 4 Case Three: The Balkans - Incubators of European Insecurity; Chapter 5 Case Four: NATO and Afghanistan - Coalition Warfighting and Stability Operations in a New Century; Chapter 6 Case Five: Nuclear Abolition and Arms Reductions - Stakes and Risks for NATO; Chapter 7 Conclusion;

War, as Clausewitz reminds, is the most uncertain of human political and social activities. It also imposes burdens. In an alliance among states for the promotion of collective defense or security, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), burdens have to be shared. This study looks at the experience of the United States and other member states of NATO in four situations of multinational military intervention - Lebanon, the Persian Gulf, the Balkans, and South Asia - and considers the implications of nuclear arms reductions and nonproliferation for the US and NATO. Each case study represents an important period in the distribution of power, interest, and values, amounting to more than a sequential consideration of incidents of military intervention and/or conflict prevention. These politico-military challenges include a major coalition war, a traditional peacekeeping operation, an exercise in peace enforcement, and a conflict that combines counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism with stability and security operations.