Thesis Type: Doctorate
Institution Of The Thesis: Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Uluslararası Güvenlik Ana Bilim Dalı, Turkey
Approval Date: 2020
Thesis Language: Turkish
Student: Haluk Cumali ÇETİNKAYA
Supervisor: MUSTAFA SITKI BİLGİN
Abstract:The aim of this thesis is to examine how the NATO partnerships program has had an impact on regional and global security and to evaluate its future. Celebrating the 71st anniversary of its establishment, NATO's change/transformation capability against the changing security parameters throughout the process, the institutional structure it has created, its culture and the level of adaptation to common values are seen as factors that make it different and durable from other similar structures. While NATO, established under the conditions of the end of the Cold War, has carried out the basic duties of defense and deterrence to protect its members against a threat in a period of fifty years, it has faced a brand new security environment before it is expected but not quite ready. During this period, which was the end of the Cold War, NATO changed its structure, duties and the underlying strategy by realizing its change/transformation ability. At the end of a difficult four-year period, this change has brought the NATO partnership program to life, which is based on a collaborative, crisis management and dialogue-based skill rather than the classic defense capabilities of the Cold War. During this thesis study, the work done since the establishment of the NATO Partnership Program, which was officially launched in 1994, has been analyzed by extracting both from the archive documents of NATO and from open sources. The aim of the study is to reveal the effects of the program on regional and global security in this process. The main finding determined at the end of the study is one of the most important building blocks of the Partnership Program that enables NATO to contribute to security and stability in regional and global understanding. The twenty-six-year process has been investigated in five chapters within the scope of this thesis. In the first part, for the purpose explained above, in this study, instead of NATO's general policies, only the NATO Partnership Program will be discussed, and the ethics of the rupture that occurred after the NATO-Russia crisis in 2014 will be evaluated by using all available resources. The main expectation was to reveal a series of suggestions and evaluations for this program, which is considered to be important and priority for NATO's future. In the second chapter, the NATO transformation after the Cold War, the new security parameters that caused it, the structure of NATO, the reasons that formed the partnership program, the difficulties and partnerships with partner countries in a new process, the structure of the partnership program, the objectives, and the way they worked. In this section, it was revealed that one of the most important results of the transformation that NATO experienced after the Cold War was the partnership program. It is seen that this dynamic structure continues today. In the third chapter, the effects of the partnership program on regional and global security are analyzed on a country and regional basis, and the gains from the NATO perspective and the benefits provided on a partner country basis are analyzed. In this section, while it is seen that each country gains different levels from this program, even if it is different, it can be said that, from the perspective of NATO, it activates its goal of becoming a global actor with the effects of this program. In the fourth chapter, the model of cooperation with international institutions that provide the comprehensive and global dimension of the NATO partnership program is analyzed. These structures, which have both regional and global activities, have been shown to provide support with their legal support, political dialogue, and their ability to create a platform for common ideas on their members. In the fifth chapter, in the light of the findings obtained in the first three sections, the contributions of both partner countries and international institutions to NATO's post-2014 transformation (adaptation) activities are examined by discussing what the NATO partnerships program is going towards. It has been evaluated that the transformation activities, which are perceived as a return to the common defense in NATO due to the changing new security parameters, will not develop in this direction, and that three basic tasks can be performed jointly when necessary without prioritizing each other. This section also has emerged as an important place and role in the NATO partnership program in Turkey. Finally, in the sixth chapter, the benefits of the partner countries and their gains from NATO's partnership program as a whole are revealed. In this section, it was revealed that the NATO partnerships program should take responsibilities and initiatives towards global security in line with the re-emerging global security parameters, and it needs to develop and activate the partnerships program to do this effectively. In the area of security for the future of this program from both bilateral and Turkey were valued more needs to be done within a central plan of significant efforts in the NATO partnership program.