This monograph evaluates the security implications for the European continent as NATO enlarges its membership to include former eastern bloc countries. Specifically, it addresses whether NATO enlargement will enhance or jeopardize European security. The evaluation is structured to address the research question by first examining the changed European security environment. This is followed with an analysis of the enlargement process and the most prominent issues raised in the enlargement debate. The evaluation concludes with a discussion of Russia's response to enlargement. Research for the paper revealed a wide variety of published material on the subject, as well as an extremely diversified range of opinion. The fundamental changes in Europe following the end of the Cold War led NATO to adopt a new Alliance Strategic Concept. This new Strategic Concept addresses the changed risks and challenges facing the Alliance as well as NATO's preparation to accept missions on its periphery if members' common interests are involved. NATO reaffirmed its commitment to Article 10 of the 1949 Washington Treaty which allows other nations to become members. As a result of the security vacuum created by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, central and eastern European countries have sought membership in NATO. NATO's response was its Partnership for Peace initiative in 1994, followed by extending invitations for membership to Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic at the July 1997 Madrid Summit in the first of what may become several rounds of enlargement. Critics of enlargement focus on concerns of embroiling NATO in regional ethnic conflicts, of being too costly for the U.S., and of antagonizing Russia and derailing Moscow's democratic and free market reforms. Supporters offer that the successes of NATO during the Cold War can be shared with central and eastern European countries, in essence extending a proven security umbrella further east, and in the process provide a stabilizing influence to prevent the renationalization and rearmament of national militaries. The study concludes that though NATO enlargement is not without risk, if managed properly it will enhance security on the European continent.

ADA 357109 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)