Transatlantic security cooperation has developed into a hybrid object. This necessitates a look beyond the two institutional cornerstones of cooperation, NATO and the bilateral EU-US relationship. The book addresses the historical and current conceptions of transatlantic security relations and analyzes new ‘platforms’ for cooperation such as the EU-3 initiative in regard to Iran, various forms of EU-NATO cooperation as well as the Middle East Quartet. The contributors examine the member states’ perspective on the relationship and discuss some new areas for action including a CFSP caucus in NATO, a reversed Berlin-plus agreement, a «Joint Transatlantic Nation-Building Task Force», and common criteria for stability operations on both sides of the Atlantic. The message throughout the book: there is no ‘master plan’ for strengthening transatlantic relations, but strong reasons to move forward with a sense of pragmatism.

The Editor: Peter Schmidt is Senior Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin and Adjunct Professor at the University of Mannheim.