The Dayton Peace Agreement was signed in 1995, which effectively ended the war in Bosnian and established a decentralized state. This divisive nature of this framework encourages the political elite and decision makers to place a greater importance upon preserving political power, rather than making meaningful institutional changes. They consistently instrumentalize interthnic fears as a means to gain popular support at the expense of the country's development. The inability to cooperate has led to political stalemate and contributed to low level of progress in many sectors. Nonetheless, the possibility of accession to NATO remains open if the criteria for membership are satisfied. The international community bears the responsibility of integrating Bosnia and Herzegovina because of its strategic importance and the potential threats that can develop if political tensions escalate into an armed conflict. The recent accession of Montenegro and North Macedonia to NATO proves the doors remains open for aspiring countries that show the political will to deepen their relationship with the Alliance. Bosnia has made remarkable transformations in its security and defense sector, though it must resolve the current issues that impeded its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The purpose of this study is to determine how post-Cold War NATO allies have contributed to transatlantic relations, both in times of crisis and in times of harmony. Their contribution, although less significant when compared to long-time members' military capabilities, takes various forms. Their support in times of disagreement among allies over the Iraq 2002-2003 issue proved to be more valuable than was anticipated. Therefore, my research is an introspective look at the events that marked NATO's evolution during the last fifteen years and their implications for NATO members as units and for traditional transatlantic relations as a whole. Successive NATO enlargements proved that each decision to add new members reflected NATO's priorities at that particular moment. Whether it was a pre-Cold War enlargement or a post-Cold War enlargement, the decision reflected NATO's interests. Some of the decisions were predominantly military; some were in accordance with the international order established after World War II. The post-Cold War enhancements had two major characteristics: the first enlargement was more symbolic than the second because it erased the artificial lines set by Yalta, whereas the second one was much more practical. The geo-strategic position of the NATO candidates and their willingness to join, prior to their formal invitation, were favorable factors, and the decisions made regarding membership proved to have long-term, positive consequences. New NATO members, particularly Romania, appreciated their new status and participated actively in both NATO operations and in "coalition of the willing". Their equal participation in NATO-led operations and coalitions made a palpable contribution to both NATO and to the transatlantic relations. / International Civilian, Romanian Ministry of National Defense

The aim of this theses was to analyze the Visegrad group's cooperation towards the membership in NATO. The thesis is divided into five parts. The first part focuses on the NATO's chagnes it has been through since the end of the Cold War. Second chapter is describing the three major historical events which influenced the region of V4 countries for many decades. Third part is analazing the origin of the decision to enlarge NATO after the end of the Cold War. The fourth chapter is focusing on the security cooperation of NATO and EU and the final part's aim was to evaluate the cooperation of V4 countries on their way to NATO.

Why, despite the territorial fragmentation and unresolved conflicts in both countries, does NATO maintain a public commitment to a 2008 decision promising the future membership of Ukraine and Georgia? It can be argued that the "Bucharest decision" has prompted the very attack that NATO membership was meant to prevent. Russia has invaded both states to, among other things, prevent their likely incorporation in NATO. What causes publicly articulated military alliance policy aspirations to endure when they induce such geopolitical conflict, and geopolitical transformation, that it undermines their purpose? This dissertation takes these puzzles as its object of inquiry. The focus of the study is Ukraine and Georgia's partial integration into NATO from 2007 to 2020. This research uses the concepts of robust action and rhetorical action to examine the two countries' growing partnerships with the alliance during this period. It defines robust action as a series of ambiguous moves to achieve tactical goals while maintaining long term flexibility. Rhetorical action is defined as the strategic use of arguments to serve an agent's interests. By using a narrative analysis method, the study draws from a body of NATO official texts and speeches and a set of original interviews to illustrate the public and private narratives used by political and military officials to help them make sense of NATO's engagement with Ukraine and Georgia. Existing literature on NATO expansion has not addressed how the alliance has adapted the process of integrating aspirant countries short of membership. Moreover, the literature on robust action has not focused on how international security organizations like NATO can use ambiguous actions to tackle complex challenges and maintain flexibility. The study argues that NATO's engagement with Ukraine and Georgia since Bucharest constitutes a robust action strategy. Through a combination of rhetorical and material support, NATO has simultaneously been able to maintain the appearance of a commitment to the two countries, show Western resolve and solidarity in opposing Russia and sustaining the United States' preferred vision of Europe's security order, all while denying Ukraine and Georgia "full membership" in the alliance. Ukraine, Georgia, and their allies in NATO have used rhetorical action, arguments based on the self-defined liberal values and norms of the Euro-Atlantic community that NATO represents on the one hand, and the historical precedent of an open door policy toward membership, on the other, to rhetorically entrap NATO into staying committed. The study shows how multilateral commitments are more layered than the traditional membership/no membership choice and how NATO has been able to successfully maintain such a commitment through both rhetoric and action while avoiding a direct war with Russia. It concludes however that NATO's commitment is untenable for a military alliance based on defense and deterrence. This has implications for the future of NATO expansion and the overall trajectory of the alliance. / Doctor of Philosophy / The possibility of further expanding NATO to Ukraine and Georgia has been among the alliance's greatest challenges since the 2008 Bucharest summit decision, which promised the future membership of the two countries. Many accounts tend to focus on the original motivation behind the decision rather than NATO's practice of maintaining a commitment to such a decision in the light of the unresolved conflicts and territorial fragmentation of both states. This study, by contrast, examines the rhetoric and action in the making of the two countries' deepening partnerships with NATO since Bucharest. This research examines how through a set of ambiguous rhetoric and action NATO has been able to maintain the appearance of a commitment to Ukraine and Georgia, project Western resolve against Russian opposition, and sustain the United States' preferred vision of the European security order, all while denying the two countries membership in the alliance. Moreover, the advocates for Ukraine and Georgia use arguments based on NATO's identity, values, and the precedent of prior expansions to convince the alliance into staying committed to their eventual membership. The study shows how NATO has devised a formula for integrating aspirant members, short of "full membership." It is useful because it shows how, in practice, multilateral commitments are more layered than they are traditionally understood. While NATO has been able to successfully maintain this commitment through both rhetoric and action, such a commitment clashes with important qualities of adaptability and flexibility to changing strategic realities, crucial to the endurance of a military alliance over the long term.

The thesis deals with NATO enlargements in 1999 and 2004 - on the examples of eligibility of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Estonia for NATO accession. The thesis is divided into the four parts, which are analysing the issue of enlargement. This issue is viewed from a broad perspective. That's why the thesis includes the NATO enlargements during the Cold Ward. Nevertheless, the main focus is on the two enlargements waves, such as 1999 and 2004, which comprise the accession of these four mentioned states. Simultaneously, none of these would be accepted without the US approval and especially in case of Estonia also without Russian opinion. Then it could follow the in-depth analysis of eligibility of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Estonia for NATO accession, which is based on Study on NATO Enlargement. The Study can be legitimately regarded as NATO's basic document for enlargement.

This thesis examines processes of peace-promotion in the Balkans since the end of the Cold War. It is conducted from the perspective of International Relations theory and as such identifies peace as a pattern of order defined by the analytical framework of security communities. In this respect, the thesis argues that the initiation of a security community in the Balkans is a result of the post- 1999 international socialisation of regional decision-making by the EU and NATO. It, therefore, advances the concept of an elite security community as the embryonic stage of securitycommunity- building. The focus on state-elites is an outcome of the procedural dynamics of socialisation, where it is the decision-making behaviour that signifies compliance with externallypromoted standards. The conjecture is that the promotion of peace in the Balkans is the result of the extension of the Euro-Atlantic security community. The inference is that both the EU and NATO tend to be more convincing agents of socialisation as a result of their association/partnership and accession programmes. Being a complex and context specific process, the conditioning of Balkan states into a security-community-pattern of relations is underwritten by the Euro-Atlantic exercise of socialising power. This notion of power, however, is not defined as the control of policy-outcomes, but instead emphasises the ability of external actors to cause change in decision-making behaviour. The thesis also argues that the process of international socialisation has different effects depending on the nature of statehood in the target entities - in integrated states the external agency is both more immediate to discern and implement, while in awkward states the process tends to be longer and more intricate. Yet, as the case of the Balkans attests, the extension of the Euro-Atlantic security community to the region depends on the viable (even if distant) prospect of membership in the EU and NATO. In this way the thesis contributes to understanding the early stages of initiating a security community, as well as the role played by international actors in its promotion.

Doctor of Philosophy / Security Studies Interdepartmental Program / Donald J. Mrozek / From 1989 to 1999, the US had an opportunity to end its rivalry with Russia. However, a “loss aversion heuristic” dominated the decision-making processes of George Bush and Bill Clinton resulting in policies that provoked Russian fears of encirclement. This “loss aversion heuristic” manifested in four key security decisions: the reunification of Germany within NATO, NATO expansion to newly independent states, the Balkans interventions, and the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Although initially suspicious of Gorbachev, Bush eventually pursued a policy of supporting his reforms. However, as the administration came to terms with the inevitability of German reunification and increased European integration as outlined in the Single European Act of 1987, worries about the US leadership role in Europe emerged. By the fall of 1989, Bush backed German reunification to bolster pro-NATO political parties in Germany. As he assumed the presidency in 1993, Clinton wanted to increase financial assistance to Russia. However, when it came to security issues, Clinton’s fear of losing democratic gains in Eastern Europe to an emerging Russian nationalist movement made him less conciliatory to Russia. Despite Yeltsin’s dismay, Clinton pushed for NATO’s enlargement to protect the newly independent states. The same “loss aversion heuristic” was in play with the NATO interventions in the Balkans in 1995 and 1998. Criticisms of NATO’s ineffectiveness at preventing genocide on the continent called into question the necessity of a European security organization that could not provide security. Even though the interventions cemented a continued rivalry with Russia, the US backed them as a means of protecting the relevance of NATO. These decisions had implications to the US policy of protecting the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Instead of securing a nuclear security partner, US policy contributed to Russians selling technology to rogue regimes, and they resisted US attempts to create an Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense (ABM) system in Eastern Europe. In this way, US policy success in securing NATO resulted in decreased nuclear security. In the first three security decisions, the US overestimated the probability of loss making them unable to consider a more cooperative posture vis-à-vis Russian security concerns. The result of this loss aversion was the protection of NATO and the loss of cooperation on the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

The theme of this thesis is the enlargement of the EU and NATO, and Russia's response to such expansion. The aim of this work is to analyze whether the expansion of these institutions after the end of the Cold War is creating a new dividing line in Europe. The analysis is embedded in a constructivist theoretical perspective. I will therefore examine the distinct identities of the West (for purposes of this work represented by the EU and NATO) and Russia. These different identities should cause that the actors perceive the EU and NATO enlargements from a different perspective. Different vision of certain reality then creates tension between the two "value blocks" and thus may resemble the Cold War.

The realm of trust has of late become the subject of a new agenda of research. Withal, as this paper demonstrates, trust has always implicitly been at the core of international relations theory. The object of the research is the transatlantic relationship and the role that trust plays on the field of security, using NATO as the platform. In this connection, at first, the author considers the category of trust in international relations as a whole. A detailed analysis of the phenomenon of trust, its principles and distinctive signs will be conducted. For the further application of the theoretical findings to the case of transatlantic relations, special methodology as exploratory research is elaborated. It develops a multiframework strategy for recognizing signals of trust in a relationship, emphasizing the role of the security dilemma, hedging strategies and reassurance in this manner. The selected research methods are determined by the theoretical basis and the available data for the research. Taking stock of the history of transatlantic relations on the basis of researching literature and using the research findings of the case study, the author estimates the level of trust between the United States and European NATO members during periods of turmoil. The aim is to reveal the causes of such state of...

This diploma thesis is focused on the analysis of Russian foreign policy towards Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The actions of the external players, namely the US (NATO), the EU and China are discussed in order to see how these foreign entities can modify Russia's actions in its backyard. The current state of affairs demands a careful examination of Russian foreign policies. As Russia has demonstrated in Georgia, Ukraine, Syria, it is willing to protect its interests at any cost. Thus, it was decided to analyze whether the foreign involvement in Kazakhstan would provoke Russian aggression. The primary aim is to provide a complex examination of Russian involvement in Kazakhstan and Ukraine along with the increasing influence from external players. This thesis is expected to contribute to the existing research on Russian foreign policy by providing an essential background for future researches as well as by presenting previously incomparable cases. This work presents a significant historical background that provides a reader with the in- depth analysis of Russia's relations with Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Geopolitical, military, economic, social factors are analyzed to present a broader perspective of the regional interconnections. Thus, this work analyzes how Russia has established its dominance in the...