The armed forces of Europe have undergone a dramatic transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces provides the first geographically and thematically comprehensive presentation and analysis of the evolution and current state of the national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and security partnerships of European armed forces in response to the security challenges Europe has faced since the end of the Cold War.

A truly cross-European comparison of the evolution of national defence policies and armed forces remains a glaring blind spot in the existing literature. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces aims to fill this gap by gathering contributions by leading and emerging scholars on European defence and international security from around the world. It is organized in six parts that focus respectively on: country-based assessments of the evolution of the national defence policies of Europe's major, medium and lesser powers since the end of the Cold War; the alliances and security partnerships developed by European states to cooperate in the provision of national security; the array of security challenges faced by European states and their armed forces, ranging from inter-state through intra-state and transnational, to emerging security challenges; the national security strategies and doctrines developed in response to these challenges; the military capabilities, and the underlying defence and technological industrial base, brought to bear to support national strategies and doctrines; and, finally, the national or multilateral military operations by European armed forces. The contributions to The Handbook collectively demonstrate the fruitfulness of giving analytical precedence back to the comparative study of national defence policies and armed forces across Europe.