The transformative power of NATO

Last week, I criticized Steve Walt in part for ignoring the way that NATO membership helped to liberalize and stabilize central and eastern Europe. In World Affairs, a Russian journalist and reformer takes that argument to its logical conclusion: The “carrot” of Euro-Atlantic integration was undoubtedly a key factor in the successful transformation of most ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Last week, I criticized Steve Walt in part for ignoring the way that NATO membership helped to liberalize and stabilize central and eastern Europe. In World Affairs, a Russian journalist and reformer takes that argument to its logical conclusion:

Last week, I criticized Steve Walt in part for ignoring the way that NATO membership helped to liberalize and stabilize central and eastern Europe. In World Affairs, a Russian journalist and reformer takes that argument to its logical conclusion:

The “carrot” of Euro-Atlantic integration was undoubtedly a key factor in the successful transformation of most post-Communist states in the 1990s. The West’s failure to offer a similar incentive to Yeltsin’s Russia was a monumental mistake that contributed to the country’s subsequent backsliding. It is crucial not to repeat it the next time Russia embarks on the path of reforms. This means that both sides — the Western establishment and Russia’s pro-European democratic opposition — must begin to prepare now.

I’m skeptical. First, I think the NATO "liberalizing" effect will be much more diffuse when it comes to Russia, in part because of its size and in part because central and eastern European states had a distinct historical fear (a revival of Russian expansionism) that made membership a powerful incentive. Second, the "cost" of Russian accession in terms of alliance cohesion seems potentially huge. NATO is a consensus organization; effectively, every member has a veto. New alliance members haven’t always been comfortable with the alliance’s direction but they’ve been reluctant to stand in the way. I can’t imagine that Moscow would be hesitant to use the veto. And that could have significant consequences if, for example, NATO needs to fight fires again in the Balkans.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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