Nato S Democratic Retrenchment

Exploring NATO’s post-Cold War determination to support democracy abroad, this book addresses the alliance’s adaptation to the new illiberal backlashes in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Afghanistan after the alleged ‘return of history’. The book engages the question of what has driven NATO to pursue democratisation in face of the significant region-specific challenges and what can explain policy expansion or retrenchment over time. Explaining NATO’s adaptation from the perspective of power dynamics that push for international change and historical experience that informs grand strategy allows wider inferences not only about democratisation as a foreign policy strategy but also about the nature of the transatlantic alliance and its relations with a mostly illiberal environment. Larsen offers a theoretical conception of NATO as a patchwork of one hegemonic and several great power interests that converge or diverge in the formulation of common policy, as opposed to NATO as a community of universal values. This volume will appeal to researchers of transatlantic relations, NATO’s functional and geographical expansion, hegemony and great power politics, democracy promotion, lessons of the past, (Neoclassical) Realism, alliance theory, and the crisis of the liberal world order.

Exploring NATO's post-Cold War determination to support democracy abroad, this book addresses the alliance's adaptation to the new illiberal backlashes in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Afghanistan after the alleged 'return of history'. The book engages the question of what has driven NATO to pursue democratisation in face of the significant region-specific challenges and what can explain policy expansion or retrenchment over time. Explaining NATO's adaptation from the perspective of power dynamics that push for international change and historical experience that informs grand strategy allows wider inferences not only about democratisation as a foreign policy strategy but also about the nature of the transatlantic alliance and its relations with a mostly illiberal environment. Larsen offers a theoretical conception of NATO as a patchwork of one hegemonic and several great power interests that converge or diverge in the formulation of common policy, as opposed to NATO as a community of universal values. This volume will appeal to researchers of transatlantic relations, NATO's functional and geographical expansion, hegemony and great power politics, democracy promotion, lessons of the past, (Neoclassical) Realism, alliance theory, and the crisis of the liberal world order.

Exploring NATO’s post-Cold War determination to support democracy abroad, this book addresses the alliance’s adaptation to the new illiberal backlashes in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Afghanistan after the alleged ‘return of history’. The book engages the question of what has driven NATO to pursue democratisation in face of the significant region-specific challenges and what can explain policy expansion or retrenchment over time. Explaining NATO’s adaptation from the perspective of power dynamics that push for international change and historical experience that informs grand strategy allows wider inferences not only about democratisation as a foreign policy strategy but also about the nature of the transatlantic alliance and its relations with a mostly illiberal environment. Larsen offers a theoretical conception of NATO as a patchwork of one hegemonic and several great power interests that converge or diverge in the formulation of common policy, as opposed to NATO as a community of universal values. This volume will appeal to researchers of transatlantic relations, NATO’s functional and geographical expansion, hegemony and great power politics, democracy promotion, lessons of the past, (Neoclassical) Realism, alliance theory, and the crisis of the liberal world order.

This timely Research Handbook provides novel insights into the institutional complexities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Through a defined focus on the post-Cold War evolution of NATO, it provides various theoretical perspectives on the Alliance and assesses wider research efforts within NATO studies.

This book fosters critical reflection on Europe's place in a fast-changing global environment, covering the soft and hard facets of EU power along the spectrum of low politics–high politics. Taking an innovative case-study approach, it provides a wide understanding of European Studies and International Relations beyond classical power considerations and addresses the crossroads of the two disciplines. Fundamentally, it addresses the specificity of the EU as an actor in International Relations and shows that the EU holds power and influence – creating opportunities for peace-making and peace-building – in a way classical IR theory would suggest it should not. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Studies, foreign policy analysis, International Relations, Security Studies, Political Science, History, and Economics.

Since its establishment, NATO has admitted a variety of new members in several enlargement rounds, even though some of these countries fall short of the organizational expectations of democracy—as stipulated in an elaborate scheme of texts, speeches, and statements. Growing Strong, Growing Apart maintains that this policy results from gradual erosion in the prominence of democratic discourse within the organization, normalizing deviations from previous optimistic expectations that became increasingly unsustainable after the end of the Cold War. Eyal Rubinson's analysis of NATO's conduct in this regard builds on archival research and interviews with NATO officials and senior member states' representatives. He discusses this theme in depth through detailed case studies, each covering a different period, emphasizing the place of cognitive processes in international organizations’ decision-making.

The Trump presidency has been one of the most eventful and controversial in American history, with consequences for the governance and policy of the US and beyond. While Trump left office claiming a long list of ‘Trump Administration Accomplishments’, his time in office was also marked by a hailstorm of criticism. But beyond the sensationalist tweets and news stories, what policy effects did he bring? This volume provides an extensive and authoritative set of studies evaluating Donald Trump’s impact on American society and beyond. It provides a new layered framework for assessing the policy impact of leaders, which can be used for understanding presidential and prime ministerial leadership more widely. Chapters explore his impact on American democracy, Congress, the Supreme Court, the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic, the environment, American soft power, the international system and more. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Policy Studies.