Russia and NATO expansion: An analysis of Russia's threat perceptions of NATO expansion.

摘要

The end of the Cold War brought a sense of heightened expectations and hopes for deepened NATO-Russia relations and for a more stable international security situation. Standing in the way of any NATO-Russia cooperation, however, was the issue of NATO expansion. Despite their copious rhetoric of cooperation, NATO-Russia relations remain strained; to put it mildly, ever since NATO made the determination to expand eastwards in the early-mid 1990s. Despite numerous Western assurances that NATO expansion was not intended for a military attack against the Russian Federation, many Russians view the Alliance's expansion negatively and with deep suspicions.; This thesis examines the enduring suspicions of Russian policymakers regarding NATO's eastward move. This study is based on a review of mostly secondary data including, but not limited to, journal articles, working papers, official/strategic documents of NATO and Russia, newspaper reports and articles, etc. It includes a somewhat structured analysis of five main issues: the contextual definition of the concept of national security, NATO's post-Soviet Strategic re-orientation; the depths of institutional frameworks of NATO-Russia relations; Russia's national/European interests; and finally, Russia's concerns about and responses to NATO expansion.; This thesis concludes that although NATO's eastward expansion offers the Alliance significant strategic advantages over Russia in any future confrontation, the Alliance's expansion per se does not pose a national security threat to Russia. It also concludes that by not giving some kind of veto to Russia in the current NATO-led European security framework, beyond that on issues of their contemporary anti-terror struggle, the Alliance's expansion geopolitically marginalizes Russia in European security forums. Finally, this thesis also concludes that by marginalizing Russia in the European security infrastructure, NATO's expansion, in itself, undermines the strategic quality of the international security environment.