NATO after 60 Years: A Stable Crisis

Preface and Acknowledgments

Preface and Acknowledgments S. Victor Papacosma This volume has drawn on the papers presented at the conference, “NATO after Sixty Years,” organized by Kent State University’s Lemnitzer Center for NATO and European Union Studies on April 30 to May 1, 2009. It is the fourth in a series of decennial volumes going back to NATO after thirty years, each of which has examined NATO at critical junctures in its existence—1979, 1989, 1999, 2009—and collectively they contribute to a deeper understanding of what has been termed the enduring alliance. Although unable to participate in the conference, Jamie Shea subsequently contributed a concluding chapter, “What Does NATO’s New Strategic Concept Say about the Future of the Alliance?” Critical support for the successful organization of the conference and for the editing of this volume came from a number of sources. A grant from NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division helped defray costs, along with funding from Kent State University’s Libraries and Departments of History and Political Science. Carla Weber contributed important administrative services. As always and his emeritus status notwithstanding, Lawrence (Larry) Kaplan played a vital part in this conference , as for so many earlier ones sponsored by the Lemnitzer Center, which he cofounded more than three decades ago. His is literally the enduring spirit and soul of this academic center, although he humbly understated this role in his introductory presentation at the conference, “Reflections on the Lemnitzer Center’s Thirty Years.” The conference benefited from the participation of James Snyder, from NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, who chaired the introductory session and offered insightful observations “from Brussels.” Other panel chairs included Professor Mary Ann Heiss from Kent State’s Department of History and Professor Michael Nwanze from Howard University, with whom the Lemnitzer Center has collaborated for more than two decades in cosponsoring a National Model NATO in Washington with participation by undergraduates from universities in the United States, Canada, and, most recently, also from the United Kingdom and Italy. Mark R. Rubin, director emeritus of Kent State’s Center for International Programs and associate director emeritus of the Lemnitzer Center, took part in the conference but is no longer with us. In his many professional and nonprofessional ix capacities he parlayed a veritable arsenal of intellectual, organizational, and humanistic assets over the decades. Beneficiaries of his largesse, to include numerous students, are countless. It is only fitting that Mark Rubin, having left such a rich legacy, should have this volume dedicated in his memory. x preface and acknowledgments ...