Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Artist Statement
This paper's purpose to understand how NATOS's future will look like. This is being accomplished by asking, whether the three main European NATO members -- Germany, France and the UK – and NATO as a whole will follow the US in replacing Russia with China as the main opponent. The reason for asking this question is China's unprecedented economic, political and military rise in the last two decades. The paper answers the question by applying structural realism (especially the concepts “balance of power” and balance of threat) and neoliberal interdependence theory. They are different concepts in the field of International Relations on how and why states interact with each other. My method of comparing how each of the three states interacts with china on military, political and economic levels before and after China became a superpower is a comprehensive way to find the necessary answers for my questions. I see this as an important contribution to international relations because we are now in a world of two superpowers again and the US-China relationship will influence world politics for the coming decades. NATO is a US-led alliance which still accumulates the greatest military capabilities on the planet. If the US would lose Europe's support, the balance of power between China and the US could shift. I come to the conclusion, that economically, it makes sense for NATO and NATO member-states to follow the US because it still is their most important trading partner, but the main objective would be to find a way to not alienate either the US or China. Neither balance of power nor balance of threat would lead the three countries to support a paradigm shift in NATO foreign policy, as China isn't seen as a major threat yet and because Europe isn't as dependent on the US to defend it from Russia as the media sometimes make it seems like.
NATO’s future with China according to Europe
UC 327
This paper's purpose to understand how NATOS's future will look like. This is being accomplished by asking, whether the three main European NATO members -- Germany, France and the UK – and NATO as a whole will follow the US in replacing Russia with China as the main opponent. The reason for asking this question is China's unprecedented economic, political and military rise in the last two decades. The paper answers the question by applying structural realism (especially the concepts “balance of power” and balance of threat) and neoliberal interdependence theory. They are different concepts in the field of International Relations on how and why states interact with each other. My method of comparing how each of the three states interacts with china on military, political and economic levels before and after China became a superpower is a comprehensive way to find the necessary answers for my questions. I see this as an important contribution to international relations because we are now in a world of two superpowers again and the US-China relationship will influence world politics for the coming decades. NATO is a US-led alliance which still accumulates the greatest military capabilities on the planet. If the US would lose Europe's support, the balance of power between China and the US could shift. I come to the conclusion, that economically, it makes sense for NATO and NATO member-states to follow the US because it still is their most important trading partner, but the main objective would be to find a way to not alienate either the US or China. Neither balance of power nor balance of threat would lead the three countries to support a paradigm shift in NATO foreign policy, as China isn't seen as a major threat yet and because Europe isn't as dependent on the US to defend it from Russia as the media sometimes make it seems like.