Published Books
In reverse chronological order:
The Limits of Alliance: The United States, NATO, and the EU in North and Central Europe
Rowman and Littlefield, fall/winter 2006
“For anyone who wants to know why NATO has fallen on hard times, read Andrew A. Michta’s terrific new book. It makes clear that the future is bleak for that venerable institution, not just because transatlantic relations have gone south, but also because of what is happening inside Europe. This is a sad tale well told.”
— John J. Mearsheimer, University of Chicago
“Andrew A. Michta has written a very important, excellent book on the geostrategic reconfiguration of Northern and Central Europe in the post-9/11 world. The Limits of Alliance is important because it provides insights into the direction of future NATO-EU and transatlantic relations and excels in its scholarship and understanding of the dynamics of European politics. This book should be read by policy makers and students concerned with European politics.
— Jeff Simon, National Defense University
“In The Limits of Alliance, Andrew A. Michta once again demonstrates why he is one of the leading authorities on European security. This rich, balanced, and detailed exploration of developments in North and Central Europe is a major contribution to our understanding of the range of security issues facing the European Union and NATO today.”
— James M. Goldgeier, George Washington University
“Andrew A. Michta provides a well-written, detailed, scholarly-yet-insider account of the new security arrangements in North and Central Europe. These areas have been largely ignored in recent years since the dramatic enlargement of the EU and NATO to the east, but Michta probes deeply into the geostrategic reconfiguration of Germany, Scandinavia, the Baltics, Central Europe, and Russia to ask what the new allies contribute to the Atlantic Alliance, what new alliance arrangements are being made, and what the implications of these changes are for U.S. policy. Insightful, highly readable, and well informed, Michta is one of the leading scholars in the field.”
— Howard J. Wiarda, University of Georgia
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America’s New Allies: Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in NATO
University of Washington Press, 1999
“America’s New Allies gives readers an informative and incisive analysis of the contribution that NATO’s three new members will be making to enhance Euro-Atlantic security. The book provides a timely refutation to all the nay-sayers who failed to understand that NATO’s enlargement greatly enhances the prospects of a secure and peaceful Europe.”
— Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies
“By examining the expansion of NATO as a process of post-communist integration, America’s New Allies makes a significant contribution to our understanding of East Central Europe’s role in our common security future.”
— Norman N. Naimark, Stanford University
America’s New Allies comprehensively analyzes the strengths and liabilities that accompany the 1999 addition of three former Soviet satellite nations—Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic—to the ranks of the 16-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This controversial enlargement of NATO formalizes the new geopolitical realities in Europe and forces the U.S. military to confront the prospect of defending these former entities against armed attack.
This round of enlargement is part of a larger restructuring of NATO underway since the end of the Cold War and tested by NATO’s 1999 action in Kosovo. The current enlargement—together with the prospect of adding other countries to NATO and the unprecedented institutional challenges highlighted during the Kosovo conflict—represents a defining moment for the emerging post-Cold War security architecture and, in turn, for the long-term relationship between the United States and Europe. The issues discussed in America’s New Allies will be vigorously debated for years to come.
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The Soldier-Citizen: The Politics of the Polish Army after Communism
“A first rate book by one of our best scholars on Poland. Must reading for anyone interested in Poland or civil-military relations.”
— Dale R. Herspring, Kansas State University
“Soldier-Citizen is a superb piece and a must read! Andrew A. Michta’s understanding of the civil-military tensions from within provides a unique perspective and the Polish case study helps us to understand the difficulty of making the transition from a Warsaw Pact communist polity to a democratic political system.”
— Jeffrey Simon; Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University
“Poland’s struggle to modernize and democratize its armed forces has a profound significance for NATO and other post-Communist regimes. Andrew A. Michta’s incisive and revealing account of this ongoing struggle is a rewarding and cautionary analysis of the difficulties Poland and other former Communist states must overcome to complete the path to democracy and security.”
— Stephen Blank; Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
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Polish Foreign Policy Reconsidered: Challenges of Independence, co-editor and co-author with Ilya Prizel
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The Government and Politics of Postcommunist Europe
"The author accomplishes his goal of providing college teachers with a textbook for classes on Eastern Europe in the period since 1989. Praeger was able to get the book out very quickly; consequently, Michta′s sources and conclusions are remarkably up-to-date. ...a reliable and up-to-date book that can be used effectively in the classroom."
— Russian Review
This timely book surveys political change in postcommunist Europe. It concentrates on the western periphery of the former Soviet empire and covers the countries of four regions: East Central Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary); the Balkans (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, the "Third Yugoslavia," Macedonia, and Albania); the Baltic Rim (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia); and Eastern Europe (Belarus and Ukraine).
The book charts the changes in each of these countries. It provides a brief overview of the history and communist legacy of each country, then reviews the new constitutional framework, the principal political parties and their orientation, the direction and scope of economic reform, and the foreign and security policies. Throughout, it evaluates the extent and direction of postcommunist transformation in each country and its prospects for becoming a viable member of the new European order.
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Post-Communist Eastern Europe: Crisis and Reform, co-editor and co-author with Ilya Prizel
St. Martin′s Press and Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute, 1991
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East Central Europe after the Warsaw Pact: Security Dilemmas in the 1990s
"Michta offers a lucid summary and analysis of the current security dilemmas of a cluster of key East Central European nations which the author labels the "triangle": Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. The contribution is valuable in that it frames the current security situation of the "triangle" against the backdrop of broad 20th-century historical patterns. A central question is the issue of whether this "triangle" will serve in the future as the eastern frontier of Europe against a hostile Russia or as a bridge between Europe and Russia. A corollary theme is whether future patterns in the East will include a resurgent, aggressive Russia or chaos that accompanies the emergence of successor states to the old Soviet Union. With respect to the individual countries of the "triangle," the author depicts Poland as switching from the offensive orientation of the Warsaw Pact to defensive concern about numerous potential trouble spots on its eastern border. Czechoslovakia is unique in its trust in the CSCE (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) process as well as in its preoccupation with the question of Slovak autonomy. Hungary has been the most vigorous in rejecting Soviet leadership as well as in sifting through a number of possible Western institutional arrangements."
—Choice
Andrew A. Michta examines the security of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary in the aftermath of the 1989 collapse of communism and the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe. He reviews the old geopolitical dilemmas in the region as well as the new conditions in Europe as it approaches the remainder of the decade, and offers a country-by-country discussion of security policies and military reforms underway in the region.
The analysis is set against a background discussion of the region′s history as well as a review of the key events leading to the disintegration of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, including the reformulation of Soviet security policy in the late 1980s. Michta concludes with an assessment of security challenges facing "the Triangle" states of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary as they work to join Western Europe by the end of the decade. He argues that the Triangle will remain in a "gray security zone" in Europe for the foreseeable future, with an implicit security commitment from NATO, but without explicit formal security guarantees.
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Red Eagle: The Army in Polish Politics, 1944-1988
Hoover Institution Press, 1990
"In only a few instances has the history of the Soviet Union′s domination over the countries in Eastern Europe after World War II followed course as complicated as that of communist rule in Poland. That nation has always considered itself part of the West; its culture has been defined by a fervent Roman Catholicism and has been symbolized by centuries of opposition to tsarist and communist imperial expansion. Thus Joseph Stalin may have been quite serious when he reportedly stated that ′trying to impose communism on Poland was like trying to saddle a cow.′" -- From the foreword by Richard F. Staar
In this study the author examines the military′s intervention in Poland′s domestic politics from 1944 to 1988 in light of Poland′s military tradition and civil-military relations in Eastern Europe. The author places particular emphasis on the rise of the Polish officer elite to Communist Party leadership in the 1980s, led by Gen. Wojoiech Jaruzelski. This turn of events resulted in the declaration of martial law throughout Poland in 1981, when the government was threatened by the politically powerful new trade union, Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa.
Professor Andrew A. Michta traces the roots of Jaruzelski′s action back through the forty-year history of the post—World War II civil-military relations in Poland and examines martial law as an extension of the military′s traditional involvement in Polish domestic politics. This volume carefully analyzes the interaction between the army and the Communist Carty in Eastern Europe, discusses the relationship between internationalist ideology and national tradition, and concludes that the Polish military tradition is virtually synonymous with Poland′s national identity.