Chapters 2—5 described the variety of forms of emulation that have appeared in CEE over the past fifteen years. They traced the way various configurations of IO incentives and domestic considerations shaped elite use of four modes of emulation. The same chapters also explained the importance of the density of IO rules and the density of policy sector actors for four different kinds of outcomes of emulation. This chapter and the next connect that description to broader theoretical debates. This chapter assesses the cases in light of individual institutional theories. It does so by trying to sidestep the “metatheoretical debate” noted in the epigraph and noting the places where the three theory traditions are most helpful and where the lacunae in each lie. It begins with the NATO cases just explored and then returns to the EU cases discussed in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 7 then employs limited syntheses of the three bodies of theory to mine the data for more insights about the overall postcommunist transformation.

DEFENSE REFORMS IN LIGHT OF THE THREE THEORY TRADITIONS

Defense reform went through the same phases in each state. In a nutshell, the defense sector began the postcommunist period moribund and discredited in both states.