Abstract

Over the past two decades, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has enlarged several times to include a number of new countries. The first two case studies that are analyzed within this paper include key countries that were added in the 1999 and 2004 rounds of NATO enlargement: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The third case study takes a closer look at two countries, Ukraine and Georgia, that sought to become members of NATO but were denied Membership Action Plans (MAPs) because of Russian discontent and military intervention. It is questionable if Russia will use military force to disrupt the territorial sovereignty of future prospective NATO candidate countries. This paper aims to identify the trend between countries seeking NATO membership and Russian intervention within these countries. Poland joined NATO in 1999, and much to Moscow’s dislike, NATO’s borders expanded farther into Eastern Europe. The Baltic States, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, joined NATO in 2004, pushing the NATO border right against Russia’s northwestern front. This gave western alliances the ability to host military operations through NATO on the Russian border. It is apparent that Moscow has done everything in its power to prevent more countries that share a border with Russia from joining NATO. Only three months after the Bucharest Summit in 2008, Russia invaded two territories in Georgia. After the pro-Russian president in Ukraine was ousted in 2014, Russia invaded Eastern Ukraine and annexed the Crimean Peninsula. In order to be offered a MAP, the candidate country must have complete sovereignty over its territory. By invading key points within both Georgia and Ukraine, Russia was delaying their ability to become members of the security alliance. It is apparent that there is a connection between increased NATO collaboration with countries that border Russia, and military action taken upon those countries by Russia.

Thesis Completion

2018

Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Dr. Houman Sadri

Co-Chair

Dr. Vladimir Solonari

Degree

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Political Science

Degree Program

International and Global Studies

Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

5-1-2018

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