ABSTRACT
Unlike most security issues, knowing where one stands on the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) does not help us to distinguish easily between realist and reflectivist views or, for that matter, between hawks and doves. Indeed, when we consider the accession of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic in a limited 'first wave' expansion of NATO in March 1999, the contending sides become even more muddled. Put bluntly, the conventional theoretical approaches do not help us adequately to understand and predict the implications of NATO's enlargement. Rather than engage in policy advocacy, my purpose is to analyse the debate on NATO expansion and examine the likely implications of this expansion.
