Masters Thesis

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and United States relationship: a study of its development and possible future

This thesis argues the NATO has established itself in the global community as an enduring multinational political alliance with a collective security component, and as such, the United States should continue to support it in the evolution of its political and military capabilities to combat existing and emerging international threats. To support this argument, this thesis highlights how IR theory helps to explain why it was not abandoned at the end of the Cold War, and Alexander Wendt’s Constructivist theory of IP may specifically help explain its future evolution, as NATO could be an increasing influence in the international system. When the Cold War ended in the early 1990’s, the US led NATO through a major transition and turned it into an international security crisis management organization. This transition may indicate how it could evolve in the future. Public opinion in the US and abroad is identified as a critical variable that may have a strong influence on the outcome of that evolution. In addition, it is determined NATO still has a relevant security role in the world, as there are many threats left for it to combat. Finally, a historical comparison to the revolutionary US illustrates how NATO could go through similar changes as it evolves in the future.

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