NATO and its new members

NATO has had a major impact on defence reform in ten post-communist states that have either joined or been invited to join the Alliance. Through its own preconditionality and the motivating influence of membership, through technical advice and assistance and through propagating and spreading norms of behaviour, NATO has encouraged accession candidates to consolidate their arrangements for the democratic, civilian control of armed forces and helped to shape the direction of their military reform processes. More widely, these first two waves of eastward enlargement illustrate that political goals have increasingly outpaced NATO's traditional military priorities. Indeed, the military contribution that the new members can make to the Alliance will inevitably be limited, but the significance of enlargement as a motivation for and recognition of post-communist democratisation and structural change remains considerable.