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Although the successes of the 1990s have been overshadowed to a considerable degree by
transatlantic tensions surrounding the war in Iraq, and NATO still has a long way to go in
adapting its military capabilities to the post-Cold War world, the Allies’ efforts to enhance
NATO’s political dimension by creating new tools aimed at enlarging what former U.S.
Ambassador to NATO Robert Hunter termed the “European civil space” can only be viewed as a
tremendous success. New institutions like the Partnership for Peace and the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council proved remarkably attractive to aspirants and non-aspirants alike, and the
enlargement process begun in the mid-1990s appears to have given NATO considerable
influence in prospective member states over political and military reform. Although the Alliance
has never established strict political criteria for membership, it did release an internal study on
enlargement in September 1995, which concluded that NATO could contribute to enhanced
security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area by “encouraging and supporting democratic
reforms,” fostering in new members “patterns and habits of cooperation and consultation and
consensus building,” and “promoting good neighborly relations.” The study, which was
distributed to aspirant states, stressed that new members would be expected to conform to the
basic principles of the Washington Treaty—democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law—
and to demonstrate a firm commitment to the principles and objectives of the Partnership for
Peace Framework Document, which also commits its members to democratic principles and the
peaceful resolution of disputes. Additionally, the enlargement study served to inform
prospective member states that they would be expected to subscribe to Organization on Security,
Cooperation, and Europe (OSCE) norms and principles, which include resolving ethnic and
external territorial disputes by peaceful means; “promoting stability and well-being by economic
Convention