Analyzing the effectiveness of NATO post Cold War

Abstract

This thesis analyzes NATO’s evolution from a neorealist military alliance into a constructivist co-operative security organization and argues that it was this evolution that best explains NATO’s persistence in the post-Cold War era. In light of the end of the Cold War, a litany of experts predicted the eventual demise of NATO. This did not play out in reality as NATO withstood the predictions of its expiration. The central argument of this thesis is that NATO has persisted in the post-Cold War era because it was transformed from a neorealist military alliance into a constructivist security co-operation organization built on the liberal values, norms and collective identity that its member states share. In this thesis, a constructivist approach is employed to analyze NATO’s persistence, as it is the best theoretical approach to doing so. This thesis also employs a case study method to analyze NATO’s transformation, persistence, effectiveness and the threats to its cohesion going forward. A strong emphasis is made on the constructivist approach to obtain the goals of the thesis.