This book examines the changing nature and location of NATO's operations concentrating on the
development of its extra-European interventions. The objectives of the book are twofold. The
first is to provide a historical overview of the importance of the out-of-area issue to NATO.
The book takes a chronological approach to this and maps the evolution of the debates that took
place about NATO's appropriate response to threats beyond the North Atlantic area from NATO's
founding in 1949 until the present day. The second objective is to assess how successfully NATO
has made the transition from being a security actor with regional responsibilities to one that
responds to global security threats. The author considers the argument that emerged post-9 11
that the key to ensuring NATO's future vitality was to expand its geographic area of
responsibility to encompass threats occurring both within and beyond the Euro-Atlantic area.
This book therefore provides the first detailed examination of the evolution of NATO's global
role and the success with which NATO has adapted to its new responsibilities.
