After decades in which NATO epitomized the central forum towards the pursuit of European defense, a progressing integration and enlargement process of the European Union’s defense sector has catalyzed a debate about the future of the European defense and security architecture. The implementation of collective EU defense structures like the Permanent Structured Cooperation in 2017 aggravated concerns about a duplication of needs for military and defense capabilities and consequently a diminishing role of NATO, particularly among non-EU NATO states. Taking this background into account, the study aimed to elaborate the influence of both NATO and EU – as institutions commissioned with defense and security endeavors - on their member states’ military sectors. In particular, how member states aligned their military sectors with institutional expectations towards members’ commitment and how these developments could be explained in course of a historical institutionalist approach, in particular by the concept of path dependency. For this matter, the study revisited developments in member states’ military sectors from 1996 – when the European Defense and Security Identity was agreed on – until today in a first step, connected to an analysis on the extent to which the identified developments could be traced back to the states’ membership in both NATO and EU as driving factors. By using path dependency as explanatory variable, the study ultimately aimed to identify dimensions in which a member’s commitment to EU and NATO constituted a “path” that would shape decision-making towards domestic military sectors - e.g. in form of member states’ compliance with norms and guidelines or engagement in institutions’ operations - for years to come. The cases selected for the study were France, Germany and the United Kingdom which after the Brexit is still committed to EU defense structures in course of 3rd state participation.

The diploma thesis "The KFOR mission in Kosovo: The NATO activity in Kosovo after the military intervention in 1999" has its aim in describing individual steps of the KFOR mission in Kosovo after 1999 and strives to analyze the achievements of this activity. How much effectiveness KFOR produced in pursuing the goal of peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction? What were the achievements of the mission and when is it feasible to withdraw the mission from Kosovo? In addition, the thesis also analyzes the activity of other international missions in Kosovo and their cooperation with KFOR.

This thesis presents a strategic analysis on the possibility of use of offensive cyber capabilities by NATO in its defensive efforts. There is a vast array of academic literature regarding the strategic value of the use of offensive capabilities in cybersecurity, and NATO's cyber posture, however, there is little available regarding the relationship between both. Through the use of tools borrowed from Strategic Studies, this thesis attempts to determine whether it is possible to formulate valid cybersecurity strategies for the use of offensive cyber capabilities from the combination of known academic concepts with current NATO capabilities. The thesis also analyzes the possible implications of using such strategies as well as the underlying causes of their potential success or failure. Viana, André Lopes C. NATO and Offensive Cybersecurity: A Strategic Analysis, [number of pages]p. Master Thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies. Supervisor PhDr. Vít Střítecký, M.Phil., Ph.D.

Within the current epoch, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is challenged more than ever. The axiomatic values established in the post-Cold War era from the Western Liberal block are faced once again with antithetic narratives, reflecting strong elements of authoritarianism and dogmatic positions. This time however, the threat is coming from within. Turkey's stance after the 2016 military coup is steadily developing a rift not only with the European Union, but NATO as well.

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In 2020, the Swedish Armed Forces will issue the publication that will operationalize the Military Strategic Doctrine of 2016. This new doctrine, named Doctrine for Joint Operations, is planned to cover all the Armed Forces' operational activities at peace time, crisis and war in the execution of Joint Operations. This study clarifies the underlying reasoning and motives behind the introduction of the four concepts: maneuver thinking, mission tactics, flexibility and integration thinking as building blocks in the collective name Swedish operational art in Doctrine for Joint Operations 2020. The study is based on a number of interviews with the authors of the doctrine development group. The study shows that the basic foundation of Swedish operational art is based on the idea of ​​the flexible, creative and enterprising officer and an organization that encourages and gives room for innovative actions. The building blocks of the Swedish operational art are clearly inspired by the experiences of other countries armed forces. Relevant elements that fit the conditions of the Swedish Armed Forces have been selected to be included in the doctrine. The study shows that the doctrine developers attach great importance to the concepts of initiative and flexibility. These permeate all other building blocks and acts as facilitators. The practical application of the Swedish operational art can possibly be a challenge for many of the employees whose daily tasks often involves cases of administrative nature, where possibilities for own creative solutions are limited. Here, a challenging dynamic arises as we see that the Doctrine for Joint Operations is more clearly directed at the Armed Forces as a war fighting organization and not the more mundane peace administrative activities. It is probably not enough with well-worded messages and guidelines in a book to introduce a new way of thinking in the organization. A structured implementation will require a longer period of time in order for the theoretical approaches to be transformed into practical actions. An absolute application of Swedish operational art is likely to challenge and test the Armed Forces' innovation propensity and acceptance for new ways of thinking. / Under 2020 ger Försvarsmakten ut den publikation som ska operationalisera Militärstrategisk doktrin från 2016 i operativa utgångspunkter. Denna nya doktrin, med namnet Doktrin för gemensamma operationer är planerad att täcka all Försvarsmaktens operativa verksamhet i såväl fred, kris och krig vid genomförandet av gemensamma operationer. Denna uppsats klargör vilka bakomliggande resonemang och motiv som ligger bakom införandet av de fyra begreppen: manövertänkande, uppdragstaktik, flexibilitet och integrationstänkande som byggstenar i samlingsnamnet svensk operationskonst i Doktrin för gemensamma operationer. Studien bygger på ett antal intervjuer med författarna i doktrinutvecklingsgruppen. Studien visar att det grundläggande fundamentet för den svenska operationskonsten bygger på tanken om den flexibla, kreativa och initiativtagande officeren och en organisation som uppmuntrar till och ger utrymme för detta. Det framgår att svensk operationskonst är tydligt inspirerad av andra länders erfarenheter då man valt att välja ut delar som man ansett vara mest relevanta för Försvarsmaktens förutsättningar, där de olika byggstenarna kompletterar varandra. Begreppen initiativ och flexibilitet ges stort utrymme och genomsyrar samtliga byggstenar då de möjliggör tillämpningen av de övriga fullt ut. Den praktiska tillämpningen av den svenska operationskonsten kan möjligen bli en utmaning för många av de anställda vars vardag ofta handlar om handläggning av ärenden med administrativ karaktär, där möjligheterna för egna kreativa lösningar är begränsade. Här uppstår det en utmanande dynamik då vi anser att Doktrin för gemensamma operationer riktar sig mer tydligt mot Försvarsmakten som krigsorganisation och inte den mer vardagliga fredsadministrativa verksamheten. Det räcker sannolikt inte med välformulerade budskap och riktlinjer i en bok för att introducera ett nytt tankessätt i organisationen. Det kommer krävas en strukturerad implementering under längre tid för att det teoretiska förhållningssättet ska omvandlas till praktiska handlingar. En absolut tillämpning av den svenska operationskonsten kommer sannolikt utmana och pröva Försvarsmaktens innovationsbenägenhet och acceptans för nyskapande.

Due to advances in the conceptual understanding of organisational learning, armed forces tend to establish more permanent systems of formal learning than earlier, enhancing their ability to undergo military change. Striving towards inter-organisational emulation interoperability, meaning that systems are able to interact with each other, has become a necessity. Yet, such a quality is not embedded in the wide variety of theories on the subject, nor explicitly taken into account in the Swedish armed forces Lessons Learned handbook. By examining doctrines of NATO and the Swedish Armed Forces, comparing their approach towards organisational learning capabilities identified by Max Visser, this study aims to describe how the two can be understood as interoperable in the context of Lessons Learned. Additionally, by combining Visser’s theory with that of John R. Deni, providing degrees of interoperability efficiency, the study also serves to provide an analytical framework suitable for further evaluation of systems alike. The result shows that the Lessons Learned procedure of the Swedish armed forces can be considered as interchangeable with that of NATO in three out of four dimensions, leaving human resource management and development as room for improvement.

European security policies have in the last decade deteriorated. In the Swedish doctrine, it is stated that Sweden needs help from other countries' military power to resist foreign occupation. Swedish Armed Forces need to be able to co-operate with military actors in Europe. A crucial part of a collaboration between military actors is that logistic planning and conducting operations are implemented in the same way. Military actors need to understand how to conduct and plan logistic operations together. This analysis focuses on answering if doctrines used for planning logistic operations between Sweden, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Norway is the same. The purpose is to understand if Sweden is capable to logistically co-operate and receive support from another military power like NATO or the member state Norway. The study is conducted with comparative qualitative text analysis to search for seven theoretical properties that are used to evaluate logistic planning. The results show that the seven properties; flexibility, attainability, continuity, tempo, simplicity, survivability, and efficiency are different in many aspects for each military actor's doctrines. However, the results point out that Sweden can plan a logistic operation with NATO and Norway if the correct doctrine or combination of doctrines are used.

This thesis is applying the neglected concept of assurance on assuring efforts of NATO towards Estonia. This small Baltic republic lives in a fear of conflict with its Russian neighbour which would be impossible to win without help from abroad. The author asks, whether the effort to assure Estonians, that NATO would come to help in case of conflict is successful and what can be improved. To reveal, whether Estonia is assured, the author conducted research interviews in Tallinn with Estonians from the state administration, military, academics, experts from think-tanks and journalist. To get a full picture, the author also used public opinion polls. The thesis uses the concept of assurance as it was defined by Jeffrey W. Knopf. The concept is understudied and almost not used for empirical research. Importance of assuring allies is rising in contemporary's world and this thesis is trying to fill the research gap and show a possible direction for further research on the assurance of allies. Last but not least, the author is contributing to the debate about the defence of the Baltics.

This essay is about gender differences in attitudes towards a Swedish membership in Nato. The selected method for this essay is a quantitative survey method, and the purpose is to contribute to research on influential attitudes towards Nato amongst Swedish citizens. The presented results include the opinions of Swedish citizens that have participated in two surveys. One created by the authors of this essay, and the other by the SOM-institute. Regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationships between the variables. This essay concludes that there are gender differences in the attitudes of the Swedish population towards a Nato membership where men appear to have a more positive attitude. It was also found that there are gender differences in the Swedish population when it comes to concerns about the crisis or a war. That may explain why there is a positive view towards a Nato membership, as women that were worried about a crisis or a war, also are more positive towards a Nato membership.