NATO Enlargement: A Constructivist Explanation
Publisher: Frank Schimmelfennig
Volume: 40 pages, pdf
Description:
At its Madrid summit in July 1997, NATO invited three central and eastern European (CEE) countries to accession talks: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. In December of the same year, the accession protocols were signed. In this article, I seek to explain NATO enlargement. More precisely, I ask (1) why CEE countries strive to become NATO members; why NATO decided to expand to the east;2 and (3) why (only) the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland were invited to become NATO members.