POLITICS OF INTEROPERABILITY IN NATO (1949-2023): A BRIEF HISTORY

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2024-1-12
Çelik, İbrahim
NATO was created to provide security and defense against the Soviet threat and has developed various methods of cooperation between its member states within the framework of strategic concepts that have regulated relations between member states on military and political grounds. The US has placed the concept of interoperability at the heart of the methods of cooperation it has developed and has benefited from them militarily, economically and politically. Interoperability, which is the subject of this thesis, has been conceptualized during and after the Cold War as the modernization and standardization of military weapons and equipment and has been regulated in narrow military terms in strategic concepts, but it has not been made clear that this involves all kinds of political compromises in the process leading to cooperation. This thesis examines interoperability with the 8 strategic concepts, 4 of which were prepared during the Cold War, while the other 4 were prepared in the post-Cold War period. Most of them were related to weapons and military equipment, but some were related to interoperability. The thesis attempts to examine the debate, negotiation process and development of interoperability. It suggests that different factions within member states can use any political means to compete for their own interests, citing interoperability as a reason. The thesis concludes that the possibility of rivalry between member states can be exploited for the benefit of hegemonic states in a future re-polarized world.
Citation Formats
İ. Çelik, “POLITICS OF INTEROPERABILITY IN NATO (1949-2023): A BRIEF HISTORY,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2024.