In recent years, the relationship between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the former communist countries of Europe has been the focus of numerous analyses in the field of international relations. This article seeks to contribute to those analyses by arguing that, following the end of the Cold War, NATO became systematically engaged in the projection of a particular set of Western-based norms into Central and Eastern Europe. Conventional wisdom about international security portrays NATO as a military alliance, irrelevant to processes of constructing or reproducing domestic norms and institutions. Contrary to that view, I show that NATO played an important role in the reconstitution of postcommunist polities. The alliance relied especially on mechanisms of teaching and persuasion in an effort to socialize Central and East European actors into a particular, liberal-democratic vision of correct norms of governance.

NATO was especially heavily involved in the eastern projection of liberal-democratic norms in the field of security. These include accountability and transparency in the formulation of defense policies and budgets, the division of powers within the state in the area of security, government oversight of the military through civilian defense ministries, and accountability for the armed forces. In addition, NATO has sought to project into Central and East European countries Western-defined liberal norms and rules of international behavior, in particular involving peaceful settlement of disputes, multilateralism, and democracy and human rights promotion in the international arena.