European Military Integration Of The United States

Through initiatives such as the creation of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) and Partnership for Peace (PfP), and the establishment of a new Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), the member countries of NATO have opened the way for new forms of partnership and cooperation with other countries within the framework of the Alliance. On 27 May 1997, in Paris, NATO and Russia signed a historic agreement on their future relations. A few days later a NATO-Ukraine Charter was initialed in Sintra, Portugal, where NATO and Partner countries met to inaugurate the EAPC. A Dialogue with the Mediterranean countries, initiated in December 1995, is also being further developed. New structures and procedures designed to further the internal adaptation of NATO are being introduced. As part of this process, the development of the European Security and Defense Identity

“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This declaration, made by former President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, is part of the Truman Doctrine, and was the basis for U.S. involvement in Western Europe throughout the Cold War. Although the North Atlantic Treaty, and the resulting North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was established during the Cold War “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,” NATO has persisted since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. This essay will seek to examine the U.S. decision to create and participate in NATO. It will begin by providing a history of NATO and the U.S. decision to participate in NATO before considering how this decision is both an instance of continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy since former President George Washington’s Farewell Address. The essay will conclude by considering the legacy of this decision and its impact on U.S. foreign policy. While this essay will consider the period of time leading up to the formation of NATO and will briefly touch on the present day, greatest consideration will be paid to the time period immediately preceding and following the formation of NATO in 1949.

Document 1 is a chart showing “the increasing amounts of money spent on armaments from 1870 through 1914.” In the chart it is shown that Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were spending an increased amount of money on weapons. With better weapons, countries are more prepared and even eager to fight. In addition with so many built up militaries, European countries are now nervous and built up their own military. These nervous countries may anticipate an attack from another country and would be more ready to attack in order to “defend” themselves in situations that are not very serious.

After unraveling of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, fears of war breaking out between the major powers of the United States and the Soviet Union were greatly reduced. Numerous commentaries, reports, and studies arose out of the question of what to do with the excess U.S. forces, and how to reshape them for a new era (Snider & Carlton-Carew, 1996). Since the birth of the United States, the military has been an important part of the United States. The US military has been a fundamental part of foreign policy, including fostering democracy, establishing rule of law, and assisting with economic development in territories allied with the U.S. (Ludema, 2007).

Europe and the United States both have vested interest in maintaining security, supporting open trade, building upon each other’s strong economy, and reducing political barriers. Many critical shipping routes for commercial and military access are located in the region and must be available for Freedom of Navigation. EUCOM was officially approved in 1946 and established in 1952 as a unified command to preserve peace in Europe. Over the last 65 years, EUCOM provided direct support to U.S. national interest in Europe and within NATO. The U.S. is a global leader in military defense spending and global security. U.S. defense spending in relationship to GDP was 4.5% in 2012. Permanent stationing of U.S. forces abroad is expensive, but the benefits of overseas military presence help deter regional hegemony and provocative actions that lead to open conflict.

By slow stages, large and sustained military expenditures produced an enduring Military-Industrial Complex with the self-serving consequences suggested by the World War II economy and, more seriously, with the potential for perpetuating the forces of modern warfare which had provided for the initial growth of such a complex (90).

NATO, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an organization with core military capabilities that can be calibrated to respond to a large group of security challenges. It was established to serve a purpose in the wake of the War on Terror and build peace and democracy in NATO nations after World War Two. NATO has responded to emerging challenges by taking up new missions on violence, undertaking unprecedented military operations, and expanding its membership and development of relationships. Recently, Trump has questioned NATO’s importance and relevance; slamming it as “obsolete”. Although Trump’s comment about burden-sharing has some merit, his judgements are misguided.

Dollar, and Wolff, (1988, p.551) states that Finland and Sweden are EU member states with advanced and high performing economies. Their military forces were not subordinated to the Warsaw Pact and they have accumulated considerable experience in overseeing peacekeeping military action. Their regional security involvement is relatively stable when compared with the Balkans and South Caucasus. This will make them not to see joining NATO as an urgent strategy.

The current international system is characterized by growth in globalization hence regional integration is becoming a common phenomenon in most parts of the world. As a result of states becoming more interconnected, most of them have opted for regional integration so as to enhance trade between states thus boosting economies of the states as well as the regions as a whole. Besides free trade, regional integration has seen to it the elimination of trade barriers, free movement of goods and people across borders, regional co-operation in issues to do with peace and security within the regions among various other benefits of regional integration. One of the regions that has grown as a result of regional integration is the European Union (EU), which is an economic and political partnership composed of 28 European countries. This paper will focus on the EU and give a theoretical analysis of the Brexit while giving lessons of integration and liberalization based on the Brexit.

NATO starts the year 2000 with the issue of concern. The European Allies' defense capability, stabilization efforts in the Balkans, and relations with Russia are at the top of a highly charged agenda.

One of the main objectives of the European Union (EU) is the establishment of the internal market, which shall consist of “area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured. The internal market is based upon a customs union achieved through the abolition of the imposition of customs duties and charges having an equivalent effect and the prohibition of discriminatory taxes on intra-EU imports. The internal market is enhanced by the provisions on free movement of workers, freedom of establishment, free movement of services, and free movement of capital. Whereas Articles 28 to 30 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provide for the establishment of an EU common external tariff and the elimination of customs duties, Articles 34 and 35 of the TFEU (with exceptions under Article 36) go further, and prohibit quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect. Taken together, Articles 28 to 32 and 34 to 36 serve to ensure the free movement of goods within the EU and to facilitate the operation of the internal market.

People have created unions many times but not all of them were successful, specifically when we consider alliances among number of countries with different economics, political systems and culture. For instance, last century brought both the biggest collapse and the most promising union in the modern history. Although U.S.S.R has disappeared from geographical maps, some of its members joined another alliance. The European Union (EU) is an economic and political partnership that united 28 countries on the European part of Eurasia and represents a unique form of cooperation among members today.

The establishment of the European Union (EU) solidified a united political, economic, and defensive front creating a Supranational Organization (Lucas, 1999, no page). With the assistance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States, the EU has developed a comprehensive security strategy responsible for leading the coalition’s objectives for mutual solidarity, global stabilization, and defense. To address security threats both regionally and globally set forth by the European Security Strategy (ESS), considerations were developed which encompass both cultural domains of geography and development.

The European Union (EU) was established in order to prevent the horrors of modern warfare, experienced by most of Europe during the World Wars of the 20th century, from ever ensuing again, by aiming to create an environment of trust with the countries of Europe cooperating in areas such as commerce, research and trade (Adams, 2001). The EU has evolved into an economic, trade, political and monetary alliance between twenty-eight European Member States. While not all Member States are in monetary union (i.e. share the currency of the euro), those that are form the ‘Euro-zone’ (Dinan, 2006). The EU can pass a number of types of legislation, with a regulation, act, or law, being the most powerful. Its ‘tricameral’ (European Union, 2007)

With the effect of the Single European Act on 1st July 1987, the emergence of European Union (EU) as a common market has essentially been created. The benefits of this act are substantial to European firms, economies, and workers. It eliminates conflicting national regulations and trade barriers, as well as offering firms opportunity to sell their goods to all other EU members (Griffin & Pustay 2005).