Thomas--I'm persuaded that an important motive--simplistic as it may
seem--for NATO enlargement that is currently ignored in the debate is the
compensation for some of the lost market demand for war equipment
following the end of the cold war. Britain, France, and the US had each
become hooked on the health of a massive 'defense' industry. It's
contraction and near-failure has hurt the respective economies badly (for
a time it seemed as though the entire state of California was going to
revert back to the native Americans...NATO expansion *REQUIRES* the
purchase of NATO-compatible (eg--US, British) equipment, thereby
COMPELLING the 'eager' new recruits of Eastern Europe to (a) provide new
markets, and, as importantly, become more heavily indebted to the IMF &
World Bank (thereby becoming more politically vulnerable to US desires).
I hope that this helps--Peter Grimes
> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 14:09:52 -0400
> From: Thomas Nielebock <thomas.nielebock@uni-tuebingen.de>
> To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
> Subject: NATO enlargement
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I have to prepare a lecture on the topic "NATO enlargement" and I am
> looking for an explanation of this enlargement from the perspective of
> the world system theory.
>
> If you have any informations about articles, books etc., it would be
> grateful if you send me a mail.
>
> Thanks a lot in advance.
> --
> Thomas Nielebock
> Universitaet Tuebingen
> Institut fuer Politikwissenschaft
> Melanchthonstrasse 36
> D-72074 Tuebingen
> Tel.: ++49 / 7071 / 297 6463
> Fax: ++49 / 7071 / 29 2417
> Email: thomas.nielebock@uni-tuebingen.de
> URL: http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/spi
>