Ending Cold War legacies and facing new threats together: Is there a foreseeable future for Russia within NATO?

Résumé du document

In the light of recent developments and Russia's Foreign Policy turn of the past decade, this study will try to weigh out the country's position toward the West, and more specifically toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Will the future confirm what some observers interpreted as a Russian leaning toward NATO? Or will the gap between NATO's value-based security goals and Russia's national-oriented ones broaden? Will the combination of the United States' (US) administration active return to multilateralism and Russia's desire for global recognition enable both actors to overcome the Cold War legacies and to reverse former Eastern/Western antagonisms? Is there a foreseeable future for Russia within NATO?

This study will question the likelihood of Russia being more than one of NATO's partners by gauging the substantial gap between recent Western diplomatic moves toward Russia on the one hand and Moscow's reluctance for more cooperation with the West on the other hand.

NATO's 2010 Strategic Concept was often interpreted as the Alliance willingness to open a new chapter of NATO-Russia relationships. Not only does the manuscript assert its members' willingness to foster the existing cooperation and consultation processes involving Russia , but it also clearly discloses the Western plans to shape a "true strategic partnership" with Moscow .

Extraits

[...] Bell, Alexandra et al., op.cit., p The author adds that now, Russia cannot and does not want to play in the filed of more advanced competition”. Karaganov, Sergei, “Russia's Choice”, Survival, vol no p Bell, Alexandra et al., Obama moment, European and American perspective”, Institute for Security Studies p On that point, the opinions of both NATO and Russia might be more divergent than announced by both sides' leaders. It rightly depicts the great ambivalence of both sides' attitude toward further cooperation on sensitive issues. [...]

[...] The western initiatives called for Russia's reciprocity and for compromises that Russian leaders were not yet able to concede. In fact, whereas “Europe has chosen a policy of compromise and renounced the direct use of force in international relations. ( (Russia, in contrast, has to emphasize ‘hard power', including military force, because it lives in a much more dangerous world and has no one to protect it. Also it has little ‘soft power' ( ( so it has to use the comparative advantages that it possesses”[15]. [...]

[...] In a similar tit-for-tat way of proceeding, Moscow also agreed to increase its cooperation and flexibility regarding NATO's current military intervention in Afghanistan; Russian leaders even considered not opposing possible sanctions against Iran within the framework of the United Nations Security Council. Because of the capacity of the NATO/Russia Council forum to take the heat out of disputes, the possibility for both sides to build their relations on compromises and to progress through trade-offs was made possible. Nevertheless, deeper structural efforts and reciprocal commitments are needed to make the NATO/Russia relationship gain permanence, robustness and efficiency. [...]

[...] Bibliography Antonenko, Oksana & Yurgens, Igor, “Towards a NATO-Russia Strategic Concept: Ending Cold War Legacies; Facing New Threats Together”, International Institute for strategic Studies & Institute of Contemporary Development Antonenko, Oksana, “Closing Argument: Mr Obama Goes to Moscow”, Survival, vol no pp. 227-231. Antonenko, Oksana, “NATO and Russia turn over a new IISS Voices November 2010, retrieved 23 March 2011, http://www.iiss.org/about- us/intranet/training/manama-voices-blog-module/?blogpost=96&blogdate=11- 2010. Bell, Alexandra et al., Obama moment, European and American perspective”, Institute for Security Studies retrieved 29 March 2011, http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/The_Obama_Moment__web_A4.pdf. [...]

[...] ( ( It will not be tied to the United States or the Trenin, Dimitri, "Russia Redefines Itself and Its Relations with the West", The Washington Quarterly, vol no pp. 95-105. Zhongping, Feng et al., op.cit., p Zhongping, Feng et al., op.cit., p Zhongping, Feng et al., “Global security in a multipolar world”, Institute for Security Studies, Chaillot Paper, no October 2009, p That partly explains why Russia's security strategy mentions NATO enlargement as an external threat. Van Wijhe, Alex, “NATO's New Strategic Concept: Perceptions and Challenges”, December 2010. [...]