An Analysis on the Correlation Among the Actors’ Variables Regarding the NATO Enlargement

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find the correlation among the diverse variables in association with the NATO enlargement. For this, I identify the US policy toward NATO, the NATO policy on Enlargement, the Reactions of new entrants and hoping nations, and the Reactions of Russia as antecedent, independent, intervening, and dependent variables respectively on the basis of precedent researches. The antecedent variable, the US, as a member and the leading state of NATO which has its own value of democracy and free market economic system, policy toward NATO, not only makes NATO to accept the new entrants and hoping nations after they have adopted democracy and free market economic system, but also determines how to react against the Russia's military reaction. So, it influenced very much on the independent variable's policy making. The enlargement of NATO created the strong inverse reaction of Russia, so the independent variable influenced the dependent variables so much. The intervening variables was taken into account, it forms an inverse relation by amplifying of Russia' strong military reaction. As a result, the correlation between the independent and dependent variables was somewhat sometimes seemingly masked. The dependent variable forms the strong inverse relation with the independent variable, though it made positive correlation for a while in the post-cold war era at least until 2004. To conclude, NATO with 30 member countries have developed into one of the largest political and military organizations in the world, thus we need to continue to research this subject not only to configure its future, but also to find the best cooperation model in the matter of military and other subjects with NATO.