Basic information about the UC Alumni Network Essay Contest
if you wish to participate please contact Magda to discuss which prompt you would like to answer and discuss the approach you intend to take.
Introduction & Prompts
In the debate over the sources of the Russia-West confrontation, there are various competing perspectives. The NATO enlargements of 1999 and 2004 are often bound up in that debate, and perspectives differ across the UC’s three regions. Choose a prompt focusing on a geographic area which you are not from and the perspective which is least familiar to you. Based on historical evidence, analyse your chosen perspective and its evolution and impact. Contact Magda before you begin to indicate which prompt you wish to answer and to discuss the approach you would like to take.
- Analyse the motivations expressed by some of the candidate states who joined NATO in 1999 and 2004. Why did these countries wish to join NATO, and how might reasons have varied or shifted with time and from country to country?
- Analyse the internal discussions taking place during the 1999 and 2004 NATO membership expansions between those countries who were already members of NATO before 1999. What arguments for and against accepting new member states were made, and what might have been the reasons which drove various countries' positions on these issues?
- What did the Russian government and Russian policy experts have to say about NATO membership expansion before and after 1999 and 2004? How was the process understood within Russia and what were its perceived implications for the future, as seen during that time?