Ohio Wesleyan Professor Discusses NATO in Two International Publications
Sean Kay
DELAWARE, OHIO – Ohio Wesleyan University professor Sean Kay poses a provocative question: “If there were no Iranian threat, would NATO still build the missile defense system?”
Kay, Ph.D., chair of Ohio Wesleyan’s International Studies Program and a professor of politics and government, says at least one country thinks yes. “Russia suspects NATO would, and thus sees a threat,” Kay writes in “NATO’s Missile Defense – Realigning Collective Defense for the 21st Century.”
The article appears in the spring edition of “Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs,” published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Turkey. The spring edition also contains articles by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
In Kay’s analysis of the rationale and implications of NATO’s missile defense program, he concludes by stating:
“Ultimately, one fundamental point is key about missile defense – it has shown that NATO can organize around its core foundation of collective defense. This will be especially important as America’s role in Europe recedes and a new emphasis on Asia grows. In the coming years, Europe will have to assume lead responsibility for the kinds of ‘out-of-area’ activity that have dominated the alliance since the end of the Cold War. While there are serious challenges remaining for missile defense in NATO, the new approach shows that the United States can lead the alliance in its core mission of collective defense in a new security environment and in innovative, flexible, and adaptive ways.”
In addition to his “Perceptions” article, Kay also contributes a chapter to “The Transatlantic Bargain,” a joint endeavor between the Center for Transatlantic Security Studies and the U.S. National Defense University, U.S. Department of Defense. The publication examines “the changing nature of the codified and uncodified relationship between the Unites States and its transatlantic allies, and the ramifications for the NATO alliance therein.”
Kay is one of 14 authors from the United States and Europe to be featured in the publication. In addition to Kay, “The Transatlantic Bargain” features articles by two former U.S. ambassadors to NATO. The publication is intended as a precursor to the 2012 NATO Summit, which will be held in May in Chicago.
Of his chapter, titled “What is NATO’s Role in a New Transatlantic Bargain,” Kay states: “It is time to re-locate the major U.S. European commands to the continental United States, dramatically reduce the United States’s payments to the NATO infrastructure and headquarters funds, and it is time to withdraw the bulk of the American presence from Europe.”
Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 47 states and 57 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.