NATO's Enlargement and Russia : A Strategic Challenge in the Past and Future by
The Kremlin has sought to establish an exclusive Russian sphere of influence in the nations lying between Russia and the EU, from Georgia in 2008 to Ukraine in 2014 and Belarus in 2020. it has extended its control by means of military intervention, territorial annexation, economic pressure and covert activities. Moscow seeks to justify this behavior by referring to an alleged threat from NATO and the Alliance's eastward enlargement. In the rhetoric of the Kremlin, NATO expansion is the main source for Moscow's stand-off with the West. This collection of essays and analyses by prominent politicians, diplomats, and scholars from the U.S., Russia, and Europe provides personal perspectives on the sources of the Russian-Western estrangement. They draw on historical experience, including the Russian-Western controversies that intensified with NATO's eastward expansion in the 1990s, and reflect on possible perspectives of reconciliation within the renewed transatlantic relationship. The book touches upon alleged and real security guarantees for the countries of Eastern and Central Europe as well as past and current deficits in the Western strategy for dealing with increasingly hostile Russia. Thus, it contributes to the ongoing Western debate on which policies towards Russia can help to overcome the deep current divisions and to best meet Europe's future challenges.
Documents Talk : NATO-Russia Relations after the Cold War by 
OTAN-Russie, hegemonie ou suicide ? : Trump/Poutine, la paix ou l'holocauste by
Les relations entre la Russie de Vladimir Poutine et l'Amerique de Barack Obama ont ete marquees par des tensions croissantes exacerbees par la guere de Syrie et le conflit ukrainien. Depuis lors, l'OTAN et la Russie sont engagees dans un bras de fer inedit. Jusqu'a quel niveau l'escalade peut-elle grimper sans ateindre le seuil fatidique ? Depuis la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, les perspectives d'une guerre contre la Chine et la Russie hantent l'administration americaine. Les Etats-Unis sont-ils capables de survivre a un tel conflit ? Aujourd'hui, l'actualite internationale est dominee par l'eventualite d'un conflit entre l'OTAN et la Russie, apres l'independance ou l'annexion de la Crimee. L'avenement de Donald Trump est-il un intermede ou la fin de l'escalade ?
Reducing Tensions between Russia and NATO by
Council on Foreign Relations (US)
The author outlines how U.S. policymakers can deter Russian aggression with robust support for NATO, while reassuring Russia of NATO’s defensive intentions through clear words and actions based in international law.
Assessing Russian Reactions to U.S. and NATO Posture Enhancements
Rand Corporation (US)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is in the process of implementing posture enhancements to increase capabilities on its eastern flank, and the escalation in tensions between Russia and NATO since 2014 has led analysts to propose measures that are even more extensive. However, Russia's likely reactions to such posture enhancements remain understudied. In this report, the authors develop a framework that analysts can use to assess likely Russian reactions to ongoing and proposed NATO posture enhancements in Europe. They develop this framework by assessing Russian strategic writing, the broader international relations literature, and the history of post–Cold War interactions between Russia and NATO. Their analysis suggests that Russian reactions will depend on 11 key factors that capture the strategic context, the Russian domestic context, and the characteristics of the proposed posture enhancements. The authors then illustrate how this framework can be applied in practice by assessing Russia's potential reactions to both planned and proposed enhancements. These assessments highlight the importance of clear analysis of Russian perceptions of NATO's intentions and commitment, domestic threats to the Russian regime, and the cost sensitivity of the Russian leadership.
EU and NATO Relations with Russia : After the Collapse of the Soviet Union by
Do the EU and NATO threaten Russian security ? The book explores the rise of these exclusive 'inter-democratic' security institutions after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ensuing effects on relations with Russia. Two competing theories are tested to explore whether these institutions aggravate or mitigate the security dilemma with Russia. These institutions can be theorised to promote security as a positive-sum game through European integration and democracy promotion, or pursue collective hegemony with ideologically uncompromising bloc-politics. The author argues that a European security architecture that demotes the largest state on the continent to an object of security inevitably results in 'European integration' becoming a zero-sum geopolitical project that has set the West on a collision course with Russia.
NATO-Russia Relations under Putin : Emergence and Decay of a Security Community ? : An Analysis of the Russian Discourse on NATO (2000-2008) by
Identifying conditions under which peaceful cooperation emerges and erodes represents one of the great challenges for policymakers and scholars of International Relations. To address this question, the author analyzes the Russian discourse on NATO to understand the heavily oscillating curve of NATO-Russian relations under Putin. Drawing on the constructivist approach of security communities, the present study shows how the lack of a common identity undermined the nascent security community that had developed on the surface in the early years of Putin's presidency. This, in turn, enabled rhetorical brinkmanship and political actions that brought both sides to the verge of war in August 2008.
International Security in Practice : The Politics of NATO-Russia Diplomacy by
How do once bitter enemies move beyond entrenched rivalry at the diplomatic level ? In one of the first attempts to apply practice theory to the study of International Relations, the author builds on Pierre Bourdieu's sociology to devise a theory of practice of security communities and applies it to post-Cold War security relations between NATO and Russia. Based on dozens of interviews and a thorough analysis of recent history, the author demonstrates that diplomacy has become a normal, though not a self-evident, practice between the two former enemies. He argues that this limited pacification is due to the intense symbolic power struggles that have plagued the relationship ever since NATO began its process of enlargement at the geographical and functional levels. So long as Russia and NATO do not cast each other in the roles that they actually play together, security community development is bound to remain limited.
Towards a NATO-Russia Strategic Concept : Ending Cold War Legacies; Facing New Threats Together
International Institute for Strategic Studies (GB)
This report includes recommendations for NATO Lisbon summit at which the Alliance will adopt the new Strategic Concept. The authors view the Summit not as the end but as the beginning of the gradual integration of NATO and Russia into a common security space free of mutual threat perceptions and open for cooperation at all levels.
Time to Reassess the European Security Architecture ? The NATO-EU-Russia Security Triangle by
Centre for European Policy Studies (BE)
This paper analyses Russian pressures on security issues and the way the EU and NATO have been addressing them. It is argued that tensions over missile defence are closely related to NATO's enlargement to Ukraine and Georgia and to arms control, and that these issues are poorly tackled at the multilateral level. Aside from the positive moves already undertaken by the Obama administration towards Russia, it is difficult to foresee any rapprochement in the existing incompatibility of view on the legitimacy of NATO. In this context, the role of the EU in improving the security dialogue with Moscow is substantial.
The NATO-Russia Relationship : Defining Moment or Deja Vu ? by 
NATO-Russia Relations in the Twenty-First Century by
Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has redefined its raison d'etre : extending its membership, broadening its political goals and widening its zone of operation. It has also sought to enhance its cooperation with Russia, for example through the NATO-Russia Council, though moves here have coincided with factors which make cooperation more difficult, such as growing uncertainty about the transition to democracy in Russia, a feeling among some people in Russia that NATO enlargement, and the simultaneous diminution of Russia's influence were related, and, more recently, Russia's attempts to reassert its influence over its neighbouring states. This book analyzes the current state of relations between NATO and Russia, examining a number of key areas, and assesses the prospects for future development. It concludes that all parties have a powerful interest in building and maintaining security, and that cooperation and the growth of the zone of democracy hold out the best hope for solving some of Russia's most seminal security concerns.
Russia, NATO and Cooperative Security : Bridging the Gap by
This book explores the common ground between Russia and NATO and the potential to move beyond cultural differences. The author demonstrates how cooperative security could serve as a means to bridge the gap between two supposedly antagonistic entities : NATO and Russia. He shows that by building confidence between the two parties about each other's intentions, cooperative security can regulate attitudes that might otherwise lead to misperception. The author focuses on the peculiarity of NATO-Russia relations and emphasises the Russian approach to analyse them. Three parts articulate his work : the definition of the Russian identity, Russia's attitude to NATO, and the question of cooperation in Russia-NATO relations. The analysis of the Russian identity sheds some light on what happened to this relationship in the past several years and offers some appropriate lessons for consideration. Difficulties that arose after the demise of the Soviet Union up until the creation of the NATO-Russia Council in 2002 are also stressed and interpreted. Last but not least, the importance of cooperation between Russia and NATO is highlighted and the author puts forward some ideas for easing major points of friction between the two parties.
Russia and NATO since 1991 : From Cold War through Cold Peace to Partnership ? by The NATO-Russia Partnership : A Marriage of Convenience or a Troubled Relationship ? by
US Army War College. Strategic Studies Institute (US)
Since the re-emergence of Russia as an independent state in December 1991, debates and controversies surrounding its evolving relations with NATO have been a prominent feature of the European security scene. This is the first detailed and comprehensive book-length analysis of Russia-NATO relations, covering the years 1991-2005. This new volume investigates the nature and substance of the 'partnership' relations that have developed between Russia and NATO during this time. It looks at the impact that the Kosovo crisis, September 11th, the Iraq war and the creation of the NATO-Russia Council have had on this complex relationship. The author concludes that Russia and NATO have, so far, developed a pragmatic partnership, but one that may potentially develop into a more signification strategic partnership.
Engaging Russia as Partner and Participant : The Next Stage of NATO-Russia Relations by
Rand Corporation (US)
This report singles out a few particularly important areas in which cooperation could be enhanced. These are centered around three subjects : the completion of the 20th century security agenda in Europe; the opening of the 21st century security agenda beyond Europe (especially as defined functionally by terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and geographically as the region between the Mediterranean and Central Asia); and the (unresolved) issue of the long-term future of Russia's relationship with, and potentially within NATO.