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NATO's Challenge: Exploring the Persistence of the Alliance's Military Capabilities Gap
Schwarzenberg, Carly Eileen ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis addresses the military capabilities gap between the US and European member states of NATO. It seeks to answer the question, why does the US-European capabilities gap persist despite apparent agreement between Allies on strategic capabilities objectives and cooperative solutions? The paper first establishes the need for a strong, independent European Security and Defense Identity within the Alliance, particularly since NATO's operations in Libya. It then defines and explicates the military capabilities gap within the Alliance, including its scope, history, and attempts to find cooperative solutions. This analysis demonstrates that there is broad agreement both on what the Alliance requires for military capabilities and for how best to obtain them (cooperatively), yet the gap has persisted and grown for two decades. In an attempt to solve this empirical puzzle, the paper employs a two-level games framework to analyze the NATO defense planning process, which links supranational capabilities planning for the Alliance to national-level execution, dependent upon funding from state parliaments. Faced with the general answer that fiscal constraints preclude states from following through on their commitments, the paper delves deeper to determine factors that may influence differences in defense...
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NATO's Challenge: Exploring the Persistence of the Alliance's Military Capabilities Gap
Schwarzenberg, Carly Eileen ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis addresses the military capabilities gap between the US and European member states of NATO. It seeks to answer the question, why does the US-European capabilities gap persist despite apparent agreement between Allies on strategic capabilities objectives and cooperative solutions? The paper first establishes the need for a strong, independent European Security and Defense Identity within the Alliance, particularly since NATO's operations in Libya. It then defines and explicates the military capabilities gap within the Alliance, including its scope, history, and attempts to find cooperative solutions. This analysis demonstrates that there is broad agreement both on what the Alliance requires for military capabilities and for how best to obtain them (cooperatively), yet the gap has persisted and grown for two decades. In an attempt to solve this empirical puzzle, the paper employs a two-level games framework to analyze the NATO defense planning process, which links supranational capabilities planning for the Alliance to national-level execution, dependent upon funding from state parliaments. Faced with the general answer that fiscal constraints preclude states from following through on their commitments, the paper delves deeper to determine factors that may influence differences in defense...
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