The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 as a means of collective security for the West to defend against the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO seemed to have lost a main reason for existing. As former Eastern Bloc nations expressed interest in participating in NATO operations or even joining, Russia became steadily uneasy. When evaluating their response to NATO expansion in the 1990’s, did Russia act in an offensive or defensive manner? J.L. Black presents a plethora of primary accounts of the years encompassing NATO expansion to give the reader an idea exactly what the Russian government was thinking at the time. It seems clear that NATO expansion caused Russia to act in a defensive manner in order to protect its own strategic interests. By looking at a history of Russia, Black highlights that the Russians have always faced the problem of being enclosed by the West. This is what caused Russia to reach out to “fringe” nations for collective security support. Black also shows how during the Kosovo Crisis, NATO overstepped their bounds in terms of to what extent they could solve the problem. Lastly, NATO expansion was the cause of increased Russian military spending in the last 1990’s.
Historically, Russia has often found itself in a tough situation strategically. Due to its massive size, its borders are always at risk of being invaded by the countries surrounding it. In the early 1700’s it was the Ottomans and the Swedes who encroached on Russian borders. This was to be followed by an invasion by Napoleon, a defeat in the Crimean War, and resistance to Russian expansion in the Balkans in the late 1800’s (J.L. Black, Russia Faces NATO Expansio...
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...uses like China and India to create a new Asian Bloc to counter balance the west. While their support of these nations definitely hurts the West’s security, Russia had no other option after NATO took all of the former Soviet republics under its wing, undermining the Russian influence. NATO also overstepped their bounds during the Kosovo crisis leaving Russia troubled due to their once formidable influence on the UN Security Council being negated by NATO’s unilateral movements. Finally, the military reform of the late 1990’s was defensive in nature as it was meant to be a deterrent to NATO expansion. Looking back historically on Russia, they want collective security and fear isolation and vulnerability. NATO expansion takes away their sphere of influence in Europe and also leaves them boxed in at the corner of the map, forcing them to take a defensive stance.
International politics as one may imagine includes foreign affairs. This is why the topic and focus of this paper revolves around the current event within Eastern Europe. It will focus on both Russia, Ukraine, and the world, and from it, it will be analyzed by using the resources provided within class. After all it is a International Politics course, and one of the best ways to effectively put the skills and knowledge to use is to focus on an event or current event. The paper will attempt to go over in a chronological order of the events that has happened, and what is happening currently over in Ukraine. Afterwards, an analyzed input will be implemented providing reasoning behind Russia's actions, and actions of the world, and potentially some solutions.
In the book entitled Canada, NATO and The Bomb: The Western Alliance in Crisis by Tom Keating and Larry Pratt the main issue discussed was Canada’s position in Europe, North America and their view on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It went into specific issues dealing with political tension within Canada and tension outside Canada with other countries. It went through the years of different political parties and how they dealt with the matters of NATO.
During the Cold War, to protect themselves from the Soviet military threat, the countries of Western Europe and North American formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, in 1949. Members of NATO agreed that “an attack on one country would be considered an attack on them all. Canada was one of these founding members of NATO. The NATO has now grown to include many more countries. This so-called Canada clause helped ensure that NATO would be more than a defensive military alliance. It would promote friendly relations with other NATO countries. The NATO was Canada’s first peacetime military alliance. At the beginning, the NATO is just like a paper alliance. However, things goanna changed because the start of Korean War. The Korean is a member of NATO. Finally, American sent its troops to Korean and Canada followed. It was a significant impact to Canada’s military. In 1966 France had withdrew of NATO's military structure, although it was still a member of the alliance.
...a soon become of interest to them as well. As Latvia has stated, even if Russia doesn’t send in their military, sending in provocateurs is just as dangerous.
The year was 1946. World War 2 had ended only months before, and already the stage was set for another global conflict. The United States and the Soviet Union, formerly allies in the war against Hitler's Third Reich, were now engaged in a standoff over what system of beliefs would prevail over the slowly recovering nations of Europe. The Soviet Union wasted no time in forming an Eastern Bloc, a group of satellite nations controlled by puppet governments, whose primary purpose was to provide a buffer of sorts between Russian soil and the other nations of Europe, sealing their new territory behind tightly controlled borders that came to be called “The Iron Curtain”. The USSR had no intention of stopping their expansions, making no secret of their desire to conquer all of the remaining territory to be had. The United States responded with the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, in an attempt to contain the spread of Communism.
As we can see, the Russo-Japanese War proved to be a complete and total failure for Russia. A combination of bad luck, poor leadership and utter lack of preparedness for war has proved to be a disaster for its military and the navy in particular. It would also drastically alter the world’s perception of this empire; the defeat at Tsushima proved that it’s not as invulnerable as some western powers made her out to be.
The end of the Cold War was one of the most unexpected and important events in geopolitics in the 20th century. The end of the Cold War can be defined as the end of the bipolar power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, which had existed since the end of the World War II. The conclusion of the Cold War can be attributed to Gorbachev’s series of liberalizations in the 1980s, which exposed the underlying economic problems in the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc states that had developed in the 1960s and 70s and prevented the USSR from being able to compete with the US as a superpower. Nevertheless, Reagan’s policies of a renewed offensive against communism, Gorbachev’s rejection of the Brezhnev doctrine and the many nationalities
Over the years the endurance of NATO has led to closer ties among its members and to a growing community of interests. The treaty itself has provided a model for other collective security agreements. NATO activities are no longer small only to Europe. In
Lafeber, W. (2002), America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2000. 9th edn. New-York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
The Russo-Chechen war that ended in 1996 should have given the Russian government a feel of things to come when they decided to attack in late September of last year. Triggered by security challenges to the State, Russia decided that the democracy would be in danger if they didn’t act. Russia was in a politically unstable situation right now with the resignation of Yeltsin, and the current Presidential elections looming. Also looming on the political horizon was the concern over rampant corruption in the government. If they had done nothing Yeltsin’s party would have stood to lose, yet Putin, (Yeltsin’s successor) succeeded in focusing the medias attention on the war rather that the domestic corruption.
(1) After the end of World War II, all involved countries, with no exception of being victorious or defeated, have started seeking of the prevention of a new disaster by reconstructing and maintaining the security and peace primarily in Europe. All huge and disastrous events (such as World Wars) which affected whole world were originated from the uncomfortable conditions and conflicts in the continent. Thus the main task was to settle a mechanism that would eliminate any emerging threat against the continental security and maintain the order and peace. For this purpose, in 1949 West European countries established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in order to protect the member countries against any possible attack which was primarily expected from the East European Countries led by the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, NATO’s primary goal was to circumvent any aggression held by the iron-curtain countries. Military deterrence (by developing high-tech and nuclear weapons and locating them to the eastern frontier of the Alliance, Germany and Turkey) was the main strategy in preventing any large-scale attack from the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. By the end of Cold War many debates were made and still is going on whether the Alliance completed its mission in the territory. In spite of all, The North Atlantic Treaty has continued to guarantee the security of its member countries ever since. Today, following t...
The United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are two different groups, but they affect the world in the same way. They both want to make a difference in today's world, they strive for peace and prosperity, and they work hard to accomplish their goals.
Curtis, B., & Linser, W. (2004). NATO and EU Enlargement: Challenges for the New Europe . University of Washington. Retrieved December 10, 2013, from: http://jsis.washington.edu/cwes/file/nato_and_eu_curriculum.pdf
Moreover, there are also many benefits to NATO’s future. It has been said that NATO will try to enlarge their program and spread into Russia. If Russia could get on board with NATO and peace for the world, most problems will be solved. The true question with this though is: can Russia be trusted? Hopefully so in order for the problems to be solved.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or NATO was established in 1949 with the aim to provide security to its members against the Soviet Union. However, with the end of Cold war and subsequent disintegration of Soviet Union, NATO’s raison de’tre came into question. While some IR theories spelt doomsday for NATO, others hoped that it can sustain by adapting itself and riding on the ‘collective identity’ it created within the alliance. NATO not only sustained but also expanded its scope of operations and memberships post the Cold war. The essay will engage with various theories of International Relation to explain the creation and survival of NATO. In the process, the essay will also try to look into the design and decision-making process at