This research paper tested the thesis that Partnership for Peace (PfP) provides empirical evidence demonstrating the soundness of using security cooperation as a means for pursuing the end of regional stability. The inferences from this evidence are useful for military planners executing contemporary security cooperation initiatives. Analysis of PfP, considering the goals NATO set and in relation to perceptions of Return on Investment (RoI) found that the program is an unqualified success. 4 key inferences for contemporary operational art were identified from a comparative case study. The principles of experimentation, multilateralism, narrative substantiation and promoting shared security cultures are equally applicable in the current operating environment. Ultimately, security cooperation is a means amongst many, but one that is central to the western network of alliances and partnerships that guarantees the security of the international system. Increasing complexity in the international system has resulted in the emergence of significant near term threats and medium term risks; the creation and maintenance of security cultures offers a strong hedge against uncertainty and an effective means to promote the universal norms that have delivered and continue to deliver unprecedented human security and development.

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