Abstract

NATO’s transformation away from collective defense has sparked a number of internal strategic debates within the alliance. A key factor shaping this debate is the tension between NATO and the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). The existence of ESDP offers NATO’s European members an alternative to NATO in security policy, which heightens and reinforces strategic debates within the Alliance and reduces the need to find a consensus on key issues in the debate over transformation.Stephanie C. Hofmann, doctoral student at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), is Visiting Fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)in Berlin.