Russia and NATO expansion: The uneasy basis of the Founding Act

European Security is a forum for discussing challenges and approaches to security within the region as well as for Europe in a global context. The journal seeks to publish critical analyses of policies and developments in European institutions and member states, their relations with European and other immediate neighbours, and their relations with the wider world, including other regional and international organisations. It is also interested in non-European perspectives on Europe in a global context.

Whilst the journal is particularly interested in stimulating debate between varied theoretical approaches, it strongly encourages policy debates on topical issues that combine conceptual and empirical analyses.Russia's signature to the Founding Act, which paved the way for NATO expansion, was accompanied by continuing misgivings about Western intentions. Russia, which for decades had pursued the idea of a pan‐European security organisation, continues to view NATO expansion as unnecessary and seeks instead to strengthen the OSCE. Reinforcing stability and democracy within its new member states is one of the motivations for NATO expansion, but it is the OSCE which is better designed to encourage stability in these particular states. NATO continues to be seen by Russia as a military organisation, and its expansion may have damaging consequences for future Russian‐Western relations.

NATO: Official Texts: Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation signed in Paris, France, May 1997 http://www.nato.int/cps/cn/natohq/official_texts_25468.htm

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