The NATO expansion in Europe is the central topic of this scientific publication.

Abstract

Alliances are well-known in world history. In the framework of international relations, several theoretical explanations are applied to answer the questions of why and how states enter into alliances. The traditional approach explains the alliance through the assumptions of the theory of balance of power. Game theory is also a theoretical approach to analyze the behavior of states used in academic and strategic analysis. In this paper, the basic assumption about the behavior of the states of the collective West is the theory of balance of threat. In the geographical sense, the subject of analysis is Eastern and South-Eastern Europe as a response to the behavior of the states. When faced with a significant external threat, states can balance or join. Balancing is defined as an alliance with other states against a current threat; the association is brought to the association with the source of danger. This theory is presented through an analysis of state decisions on critical issues in international security depending on whether states balance or join by Stephen Walt, systematically exposed in the capital work “The Origin of Alliances“. In this paper, the subject of analysis is the expansion of the NATO pact after the end of the Cold War, trying to give possible answers to the question of why the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe “joined” this military alliance after the fall of the “Iron Curtain”.

Conclusions

The expansion of NATO helps maintain its vital traditional role as a defensive pact by strengthening the military capabilities of the member states, aiming to deter Russia. Russia is responding with the deployment of weapons on its western borders as well as in Belarus, its closest ally. Knowing that nuclear war cannot be won, it is unclear what this deterrence is directed towards. The world relies on the moral law that binds humanity to be human. The fact that the collective West stands united at the front shows that moral virtue is on the side of the West. The remaining question is whether we can have European security without Russia and whether Russia can develop itself without the collective West. At the time of its disintegration at the end of 1991, the Soviet Union was the contemporary manifestation of a state entity that, for the most part, had existed in its current form for some 200 years; an entity that, within the living memory of the last Tsar, had been successfully defended against foreign invasion at a very great cost. As McGwire noted, the most striking part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the peaceful nature of the process. As noted by strategists, Belarus and Ukraine provided defense in depth. Moscow is now within 250 miles of its country’s western border, while the territories on its southern flanks have been opened to hostile reinforcement by sea. So, is Ukraine the last straw for Russia, and what is the path to peace? The brief period when Finland and Sweden were neutral, along with the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and former Yugoslavia forming a neutral band stretching across Europe from the Arctic to the Black Sea, is no longer a possibility. The Western Balkan security environment reflects European, and perhaps even Eurasian security, extending to global security if we consider the current NATO-Russia position. The deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus is obviously a response to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. The fact that for the world’s two biggest nuclear superpowers, the only valid treaty is New START, which expires on February 4th, 2026 (U.S. Department of State, 2023), is not good news. It also has global consequences for international security. We have a war happening in Europe, and the world is feeling the consequences as before.

How to cite

Reference – Ivanov, A., Babanoski, K., & Cvetković, V. (2023). The NATO expansion in Europe – alliance of liberal states. International scientific conference, Macedonia. 14th International Scientific Conference, the strategic and security concept for the countries of South-East Europe At: Republic of North Macedonia.