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The Europe Dispatch by Minna Alander

The Layer-Cake Model: European Minilateralisms

Europe's layered defence formats enable action even without US leadership, but lack of an overarching structure beyond NATO is a challenge, Minna Ålander writes in the Europe Dispatch.

Minna Ålander's avatar
Minna Ålander
Sep 18, 2025
∙ Paid

Hello Everyone,

It was suggested some months ago that it would be interesting to learn more about the different minilateral defence cooperation formats below the NATO level in Europe, such as the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force. The context of last week’s drone attack on Poland is a good occasion to review what the European defence architecture currentl…

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