Who commits the most to NATO? It depends on how we measure commitment

2021 ◽  
pp. 002234332098082
Author(s):  
Scott Cooper ◽  
Kendall W Stiles
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Military Spending ◽  
Burden Sharing ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Out Of Area ◽  
Disproportionate Burden

Studies of NATO rely heavily on military spending as a fraction of GDP as the key indicator of members’ contribution to the alliance, but a growing number of scholars have challenged this approach. We suggest that each member’s public goods provision is a better measure of commitment to the alliance. In the case of post-Cold War NATO, out-of-area troop deployments (adjusted for population) constitute one of the strongest indicators of a state’s contribution to public goods. Providing troops for NATO missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of the clearest signals of high commitment to the alliance. Using deployment data from 2004 to 2018, we show that there is evidence of disproportionate burden-sharing within the alliance. Countries like Slovenia, Denmark, the USA and UK contributed far more to NATO deployments than others like Turkey, Spain, Poland, and Portugal. We also use the data to begin examining possible causes of these disparities. We find that wealthier countries, countries that spend more on their militaries, and newer alliance members are more likely to contribute. Our indicator and first-cut model open avenues for further research on why some members demonstrate higher commitment to NATO than others.

Worse Than a Monolith

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Burden Sharing ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Coercive Diplomacy ◽  
Regional Conflicts ◽  
Security Relations ◽  
Opposing Camp ◽  
The Cold War

In brute-force struggles for survival, such as the two world wars, disorganization and divisions within an enemy alliance are to one's own advantage. However, most international security politics involve coercive diplomacy and negotiations short of all-out war. This book demonstrates that when states are engaged in coercive diplomacy—combining threats and assurances to influence the behavior of real or potential adversaries—divisions, rivalries, and lack of coordination within the opposing camp often make it more difficult to prevent the onset of regional conflicts, to prevent existing conflicts from escalating, and to negotiate the end to those conflicts promptly. Focusing on relations between the Communist and anti-Communist alliances in Asia during the Cold War, the book explores how internal divisions and lack of cohesion in the two alliances complicated and undercut coercive diplomacy by sending confusing signals about strength, resolve, and intent. In the case of the Communist camp, internal mistrust and rivalries catalyzed the movement's aggressiveness in ways that we would not have expected from a more cohesive movement under Moscow's clear control. Reviewing newly available archival material, the book examines the instability in relations across the Asian Cold War divide, and sheds new light on the Korean and Vietnam wars. While recognizing clear differences between the Cold War and post-Cold War environments, the book investigates how efforts to adjust burden-sharing roles among the United States and its Asian security partners have complicated U.S. security relations with the People's Republic of China since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Estimating Free-Riding Behavior: The StratAM Model

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin C. Steinwand
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Impure Public Goods ◽  
Sar Model ◽  
Spatial Autoregressive

Spatial statistical methods in political science provide a tool to deal with spatial and other forms of interdependence in observational data. In this article, I derive a statistical model from a game of impure public goods provision. The resulting strategic autoregressive model (StratAM) allows the researcher to systematically explore the sources of free-riding behavior in the provision of public goods. The StratAM model is tightly related to the well-known spatial autoregressive (SAR) model and can be estimated in a maximum likelihood framework. I demonstrate the use of the StratAM model by analyzing free riding in the provision of foreign aid. Indicators of developmental needs and good governance strongly increase free-riding during the 1990s. Free-riding patterns in the 2000s are more similar to Cold War patterns.

scholarly journals Military spending, armed conflict and economic growth in developing countries in the post-Cold War era

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nusrate Aziz ◽  
M. Niaz Asadullah
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Military Spending ◽  
Military Expenditure ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Fixed And Random Effects ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose While the relationship between military expenditure and economic growth during the Cold War period is well-researched, relatively less is known on the issue for the post-Cold War era. Equally how the relationship varies with respect to exposure to conflict is also not fully examined. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the causal impact of military expenditure on growth in the presence of internal and external threats for the period 1990-2013 using data from 70 developing countries. Design/methodology/approach The main estimates are based on the generalized method of moments (GMM) regression model. But for comparison purposes, the authors also report estimates using fixed and random effects as well as pooled cross-section regressions. The regression specification accounts for non-linear effect of military expenditure allowing for interaction with conflict variable (where distinction is made between external and internal conflict). Findings The analysis indicates that methods as well as model specification matter in studying the effect of military spending on growth. Full sample estimates based on GMM, fixed, and random effects models suggest a negative and statistically significant effect of military expenditure. However, fixed effects estimate becomes insignificant for low-income countries. The effect of military spending is also insignificant in the cross-sectional OLS model if conflict is not considered. When the regression model additionally controls for conflict, the effect of military spending conditional upon (internal) conflict exposure is significant and positive. No such effect is present conditional upon external threat. Research limitations/implications One important limitation of the analysis is the small sample size – the authors had to restrict analysis to 70 low and middle-income countries for which the authors could construct post-Cold War panel data on military expenditure along with information on armed conflict exposure (the later from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, 2015). Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the joint impact of military expenditure and conflict on economic growth in post-Cold War period in a sample of developing countries. Moreover, an attempt is made to review and revisit the large Cold War literature where studies vary considerably in terms findings. A key reason for this is the somewhat ad hoc choice of econometric methods – most rely on cross-section data and rarely conduct sensitivity analysis. The authors instead rely on panel data estimates but also report results based on naïve models for comparison purposes.

Traversing the Romance of a Liberal International Order: The Democratic Peace Thesis and the Regional Security Problematique in South Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-360
Author(s):  
Sanjeev Kumar H. M.
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
South Asia ◽  
International System ◽  
International Order ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Moral High Ground

The democratic peace hypothesis, which is embedded in the neo-Kantian romance of liberal cosmopolitan idealism, was framed in the spatiotemporal context of the Cold War bipolarity. Michael Doyle, who is one of its proponents, invoked the Kantian philosophical abstraction of ‘the perpetual peace’ by providing an intellectual defence and moral high ground for the values of the Liberal Capitalist world. In the post–Cold War setting, Francis Fukuyama re-casted the hypothesis and portrayed the triumph of liberal international order as ‘the end of history’. He attempted to reframe the democratic peace thesis, not only to celebrate liberal values as the normative exemplar for ordering a post–Cold War international system but also to provide an intellectual defence for the newly emerging space for American leadership in a post-hegemonic international system. This intellectual defence of the ethical supremacy of liberal idealism in the world, shaped by the leadership of the USA, was entrenched in the epistemological Imperialism of the West. Besides, it also reflected an exclusionary idea of the history of international relations that was heavily grounded in the chronology of the post-Westphalia international order. Situating ourselves in this framework, this article is an attempt to critique the epistemic foundations of the democratic peace hypothesis, by deconstructing its assertions in the geostrategic context of the regional security architecture in South Asia. The article criticizes the democratic peace thesis, using an analysis of the Kargil conflict (1999) between India and Pakistan, and by placing ourselves in the epistemological framework of the historical turn in international relations.

scholarly journals Collective Identity, Anglo-Saxon Bond and the Persistence of the Anglo-American Special Relationship

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Ruike Xu
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Threat Perceptions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cold War

There have been many “end of affair” comments on the Anglo-American special relationship (AASR) in the post-Cold War era. Notwithstanding this, the AASR has managed to persist without losing its vitality up to the present. This article seeks to explain the persistence of the AASR from the perspective of collective identity. It argues that a strong Anglo-American collective identity has been an indispensable positive contributor to the persistence of the AASR after the end of the Cold War. The strong Anglo-American collective identity facilitates Anglo-American common threat perceptions, solidifies embedded trust between the UK and the USA, and prescribes norms of appropriate behaviour for these two countries.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Giegerich
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North Atlantic Treaty Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The North ◽  
Strategic Direction ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Operational Activities ◽  
Out Of Area

NATO, founded as a collective defence alliance, has spent most of the post-cold-war period transforming itself into a security management organization. Its ability to adapt has been the basis of NATO’s continued relevance. At the same time, NATO’s adjustments in functional and geographic scope have triggered debate about its strategic direction and the political and military requirements necessary to fulfil current and future roles. This chapter will assess NATO’s evolution by concentrating on the bargaining processes among member states that shaped the direction of NATO’s strategic guidelines and its out-of-area operational activities. The objective is to trace the extent to which a common strategic outlook has emerged among the European members of NATO.

Leviathan, Taxation, and Public Goods

2019 ◽  
pp. 238-262
Author(s):  
Martin C. Mcguire
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Economic Structure ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Burden Sharing ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Reciprocal Relations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Random Disorder

In the context of the rationale and structure of group formation, Mancur Olson drew attention to the fact that despite problems of inefficiency in public- goods provision, and irregularity in pricing and burden sharing, individuals voluntarily form groups to provide themselves with public goods. This preoccupation with the economic incentives in groups that led him to imagine the origin of the state as an economic group with beginnings in anarchy distinguished by and plagued by roving banditry, with its random disorder and erratic tax theft. The roving bandit who had settled down to become a king or stationary bandit would become the next stage, succeeding anarchy and improving upon life for both bandit and subjects. This chapter recounts the main elements in the stationary bandit theory, together with a view of the economic structure of governance and its reciprocal relations with the social economy, and suggests routes for further application.

Military Expenditures and Income Inequality among a Panel of OECD Countries in the Post-Cold War Era, 1990–2007

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy C. Graham ◽  
Danielle Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Military Spending ◽  
Economic Indicator ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Face ◽  
Military Expenditures

AbstractDoes military spending exacerbate income inequality? After the Cold War, many developed countries sought to reduce military expenditures in the face of a new security environment without the clear and present threat of large-scale international conflict. The literature has presented mixed evidence on the economic effects of military spending. Moreover, during this era analysts in the OECD have become preoccupied with the economic indicator of income equality. Our study examines the relationship between military expenditures and income inequality. Complementing the established literature on the subject, we find that these two phenomena indeed possess a positive relationship and it is unlikely that this association is due to random chance. Our results are robust to the inclusion of control variables common in the literature. These findings lead us to contemplate the historical and theoretical account of the peace dividend narrative.

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