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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) back to the center of transatlantic strategy debates, with Sweden and Finland in accession protocols to join the alliance for the first time. 

 The expansion of NATO has drawn both praise and criticism, and is sometimes pointed to as a key cause of the deterioration of the West’s relationship with Russia. ´łľ±łľĚýłŇ´Ç±ô»ĺ˛µ±đľ±±đ°ů and Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson’s new volume, Evaluating NATO Enlargement: From Cold War Victory to the Russia-Ukraine War, helps unpack the debate, mobilizing an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners with diverse viewpoints to review the history and consequences of NATO’s post-Cold War enlargement into Central and Eastern Europe.

The book offers a nuanced discussion of the merits and drawbacks of NATO enlargement and compares the results of the policy against potential alternatives that were not chosen. Particular attention is given to NATO enlargement’s influence on the course of U.S. foreign policy, democracy and security in Central and Eastern Europe, NATO’s own development as a political and military institution, and relations with China and Russia (including the 2022 Russia-Ukraine War). 

The book is designed to appeal to students, researchers, and policymakers alike while offering both policy insights and avenues for future scholarship. Praised by reviewers as “timely,” “insightful,” and “a breath of fresh air to the often-stale back-and-forth over NATO enlargement,” Evaluating NATO Enlargement is an essential resource for understanding contemporary transatlantic security and the future of European security.

Evaluating NATO Enlargement: From Cold War Victory to the Russia-Ukraine War was published in 2023 by Palgrave Macmillan.