'This insightful book sheds new light on NATO’s dirty little secret: NATO is, has always been, and will continue to be a voluntary alliance of sovereign nation states. For this reason, political bargaining plays a critical role in shaping both missions and forces, particularly in an era when threats are so diverse, ambiguous and geographically dispersed.' Stanley R. Sloan, Middlebury College, USA 'John Deni provides a terrific account of NATO's evolution since the end of the Cold War. With his deep knowledge of military doctrine and his probing research on the political influences shaping NATO's force structure, Deni has made a valuable contribution to our study of alliances.' James Goldgeier, George Washington University, USA 'The book is meant as a bridge between scholarly studies on alliance formation and duration, and more practical studies on NATO transformation...The achievement of this book is that is offers the reader an original assessment of the management efforts made yesterday to explain the (not excellent) state of the organization today.' The International Spectator