ABSTRACT
The leadership of the United States is the best example of a member-state not only fully in favor of expansion, but also the ability of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to act as a catalyst for democratic transformation in Central Europe. The Gramscian approach of Robert Cox has not only been cited as the strongest of these alternative approaches but has begun to be used in the specific field of transatlantic security studies rather than only in the realm of transatlantic international political economics. For these reasons a move to a Gramscian analysis of NATO enlargement will be undertaken. Only a critical theoretical approach such as the Coxian version of Gramscian thought, adapted to suit the needs of International Relations, can begin to broach these issues. The critique of a Gramscian variant of Marxist thought stems from Peter Burnham's use of 'open marxism' and its criticism of Gramscism for being pluralist in orientation.
