NATO's expansion and European security after the Washington summit ‐what next?

One of the issues with which alliance leaders will have to grapple in the period following the Washington summit is the question of NATO's future expansion. This article assesses the likely implications, both for the alliance and for European security, of the admission into NATO of members additional to the three who will be joining in 1999. Argued here is the claim that both the pessimists, who see enlargement as a tragic blunder, and the optimists, who regard it as enshrining lasting peace in Europe (if not the world), are in error: on balance, a prudent further enlargement of NATO would likely yield some benefits, but these will be modest. The operative word, however, is ‘prudent’.