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11 Eur. Foreign Aff. Rev. 286 (2006)
Old Europe, New Europe and the US: Renegotiating Transatlantic Security in the Post 9/11 Era

handle is hein.kluwer/eurofa0011 and id is 290 raw text is: BOOK REVIEWS how, for example, asset specificity or high exit costs can shape corporate policy preferences. That reservation aside, this remains a well constructed and helpful contribution to the political economy literature. Steven McGuire School of Management, University of Bath Tom Lansford and Blagovest Tashev (eds), Old Europe, New Europe and the US: Renegotiating Transatlantic Security in the Post 9/11 Era (Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005), ISBNA 0-7546-4144-9 (pbk) and 0-7546-4143-0 (hbk), GBP20.00 (pbk) and GBP60.00 (hbk), xxvi+322pp. Whither the transatlantic relationship after 9/11, the war in Iraq and the enlargement of NATO and the EU? Whither 'European unity' and the development of an EU foreign, security and defence policy after the divisions between what US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld labelled 'new Europe' and 'old Europe'? Are Europe ('old' or old and new) and the US drifting apart? Is Europe headed for yet more lacerating rows over relations with the USA? For the past few years, these are questions that have exercised politicians, newspaper columnists and think tanks; more recently, academics have increasingly been contributing weightier reflections to the debate. This edited collection by mostly American or Central and East European contributors is one of the latest books out on the transatlantic security relationship, and concentrates on presenting the views from various European countries. In the introduction, Tom Lansford sets out the core questions that are to guide each contribution: What are the core security priorities of each state? Are these interests best secured through closer security collaboration with the USA or with emerging European structures? What contribution can each state provide for transatlantic security? What should the role be of the USA, NATO and the emerging European defence and security structure, in transatlantic security? Finally, each contribution should analyse why each state supported or opposed the US war on Iraq, and the impact of that war on the state's national security policy. Fifteen states are covered in thirteen chapters: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Benelux, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. The book thus admirably covers 'old' and 'new' Europe, both according to Rumsfeld's classification (between opponents and supporters of the US war on Iraq), and in terms of old and new EU Member States or applicant countries (though this obviously excludes Russia). The collection, unfortunately, suffers from the recurring problem of many edited books in that the contributions are of an extremely uneven quality, and various contributors do not always focus on providing answers to the editors' questions. Several of the chapters on the 'new Europe' are the most interesting and coherent contributions in the book, especially chapters on Bulgaria (by Blagovest Tashev), Lithuania (Dovrile Budryte), Poland (Andrzej Kapiszewksi with Chris Davis), Hungary (Lfszl6 Valki), and Romania (Mihail E. tonescu). As several authors point out, the road towards EU and NATO membership was not as straight and smooth as conventional wisdom might assume: in many countries elites debated national security policy and membership of security organizations for several years during the transition period, and remain intensely uneasy about the choice they appear to be forced to make between 'Europe' and the USA in the last three to four years. But other contributions are less coherent and informative - and are quite heavily infused with an American-centric take on developments. The chapter on France (by Robert J. Pauly, Jr) reads like a rant against French policy (and the French), and makes the unsupported and astonishing accusation that pre-war Iraqi debts to France suggest 'the potential existence of

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