European Security into the 21st Century: Beyond Traditional Theories of International Relations

This study examines the twin enlargements of NATO and the European Union within the context of the utility of traditional theories of international relations and in relationship to those countries that are not going to become new members - Russia and Turkey, the countries on the outside of both institutions. Both processes of enlargement are taking place within the context of a number of rationales and justifications, borne from specific theoretical paradigms. However, if these paradigms lack the ability to comprehensively explain security concerns from a broad perspective, then gaps between the proposed rhetoric and the reality of these processes will appear. Given such appearances, one must then ask which other politics-related theoretical paradigms will best be able to make sense of these processes, bridge these apparent gaps and offer a number of suggestions with respect to the processes of enlargement, as well as the utility of the initially examined traditional paradigms. The goal of this study is to offer a number of critical suggestions with respect to these enlarement processes. The study seeks to illustrate that both of these processes are so complex that one-dimensional paradigms are incapable of taking into account the multitude of factors which influence them.