1999/01/01 by Ronald R. Krebs · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #International Relations and Foreign Policy #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Defense, Military, and Policy Studies #Alliance #Political science #Political economy #Power (physics) #Competition (biology) #Turkish #Institutionalism #Position (finance) #Hegemony #Law #Economy #Politics #Sociology #Economics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1162/002081899550904
openalex publication_date 1999/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/29
Last year the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved the expansion of the Atlantic alliance. Whereas some advocates of enlarging NATO, particularly Eastern European leaders for whom the Soviets' iron grip is an all too recent memory, stress the extension of the alliance's traditional deterrent function, others acknowledge that Russia is in no position to reconquer its former empire. Rather, they argue that membership in NATO would stabilize the region by filling the power vacuum and eliminating the need for security competition. Traditionally a volatile area, East-Central Europe is rife with potential irredentist and ethnic conflicts, and NATO can help arbitrate and limit these disputes. Critics have denounced the move as unnecessarily provocative to Russia, and they have also decried its hefty cost. But they have not challenged the claim that alliances create zones of peace.