Croatia and NATO: Moving Toward Alliance Membership

Abstract

NATO's “Open-Door” policy continues to generate much enthusiasm from aspiring countries across eastern and southern Europe. This paper examines Croatia's efforts to meet NATO's membership standards and assesses its reforms and policy changes across three issue areas, including civil-military relations, military modernization, and recent foreign policy directions. Our research suggests that Croatia has made significant improvements in moving toward NATO's political and military standards. While it still faces reform challenges due to its historical legacy under Franjo Tudjman and low public approval ratings for NATO, recent policy developments still indicate that NATO's willingness to expand produces a powerful incentive for ongoing reform.

Notes

1. David M. Andrews, ed., The Atlantic Alliance Under Stress: US-European Relations after Iraq (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005). Sean Kay; “What Went Wrong with NATO,” Cambridge Review of International Affairs vol. 18, no. 1 (2005): 69–83; Steven E. Meyer, “Carcass of Dead Policies: The Irrelevance of NATO,” Parameters vol. 33, no. 4 (2003–2004): 83–97.

2. Andrew A. Michta, The Limits of the Alliance: The United States, NATO, and the EU in North and Central Europe (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006); Richard E. Rupp, NATO After 9/11: An Alliance in Continuing Decline (New York: Palgrave, 2006). On the broader history of tensions over military capabilities, see Lawrence S. Kaplan, NATO Divided, NATO United (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004). On Europe's military deficiencies in NATO's bombing in Kosovo, see David S. Yost, “The NATO Capabilities Gap and the European Union,” Survival vol. 42, no. 4 (2000–2001): 97–128.

3. For example, see Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, “A New NATO” (3 March, 2006) at http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2006/s060303a.htm and Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, “EU-US Relations” (21 March, 2006) at http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2006/s060321a.htm

4. Richard Cheney, “Vice President's Remarks at a Dinner with Prime Minister Ivo Sanadar of Croatia” (6 May, 2006). See also Nicholas Wood, “Cheney Backs 3 States in EU and NATO Bids,” International Herald Tribune, 8 May, 2006.

5. Quoted in Xinhua News Agency, “Croatia makes progress on path to NATO membership: Scheffer” (July 6, 2006) in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe. See also Seenews “Croatia Needs To Reform Army and Judiciary, Fight Graft To Qualify for NATO Invite” (July 6, 2006), lexis nexis, world news, Europe.

6. See North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “Membership Action Plan,” NATO Press Release NAC-S (99)66, April 24, 1999, at http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/1999/p99-066e.htm. On its generally successful impact, see Rachel A. Epstein, “NATO Enlargement and the Spread of Democracy: Evidence and Expectations,” Security Studies vol. 14, no. 1 (2005): 59–98 and Alexandra Gheciu, NATO in the “New Europe” (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005).

7. On some ongoing challenges in recently inducted members of the alliance, see Natalie L. Mychajlyszyn and Harald von Riekhoff, eds., The Evolution of Civil-Military Relations in East-Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004). See also Marybeth Peterson Ulrich, “Developing Mature National Security Systems in Post-Communist States: The Czech Republic and Slovakia,” Armed Forces & Society vol. 28, no. 3 (2002): 403–425.

8. This summary is based primarily on the previous work of Ozren Zuenc, “Democracy in the ‘Fog of War’: Civil-Military Relations in Croatia”, in Constantine P. Danopoulos and Daniel Zirker, eds., Civil-Military Relations in the Soviet and Yugoslav Successor States (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996) and Alex J. Bellamy, “A Crisis of Legitimacy: The Military and Society in Croatia” in Anthony Foster, Timothy Edmunds, and Andrew Cottey, eds., Soldiers and Societies in Postcommunist Europe: Legitimacy and Change, (New York: Palgrave, 2003).

9. Zunec, “Democracy in the ‘Fog of War,”’ 219–220.

10. Zunec, “Democracy in the ‘Fog of War,”’ 220–223. See also Col. Mag. Gustav E. Gustenau, “Development of Civil-Military Relations in Croatia,” in Plamen Pantev, ed., Civil-Military Relations in South-East Europe (Sofia: Institute for Security Studies, 2001), 70; and Bellamy, “A Crisis of Legitimacy,” 187.

11. Constantine P. Danopoulos and Daniel Zirker, eds., Civil-Military Relations in the Soviet and Yugoslav Successor States (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996).

12. Bellamy, “A Crisis of Legitimacy,” 189–190, and Gustav, “Development of Civil-Military Relations in Croatia,” 76.

13. See Ivica Racan, “Making Up For Lost Time,” NATO Review vol. 48, no. 2 (2000): 8–9.

14. Bellamy, “A Crisis of Legitmacy,” 191. On military cooperation with Western governments during the Tudjman reign, see Kristan J. Wheaton, “Cultivating Croatia's Military,” NATO Review vol. 48, no. 2 (2000): 10–12.

15. Bellamy, “A Crisis of Legitmacy,” 192.

16. Freedom House, “Freedom in the World, 2006” at http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/pdf/charts2006.pdf

17. “Croatian Parliament Opens Debate on Military Reform,” BBC Monitoring, July 7, 2006 in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe and Bellamy, “Crisis of Legitimacy,” 191.

18. Bellamy, “Crisis of Legitimacy,” 192.

19. Daniel Dombrey, “US NATO Chief Chides Europeans over Budgets,” Financial Times, June 9, 2005, 8

20. Alyson J. K. Bailes, ed., SIPRI Yearbook 2005 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005): 360.

21. Gustav, “Development of Civil-Military Relations in Croatia,” 82–83.

22. Alyson J. K. Bailes, ed., SIPRI Yearbook 2005 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005): 366.

23. “Croatian Defence Ministry, Armed Forces to be cut by 2,000 employees by 2007,” BBC Monitoring, March 31, 2006, in Lexis nexis, world news, Europe.

24. “Army modernization process ‘has been launched’—Croatian minister,” BBC Monitoring, January 13, 2006 in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe. See also Gustav, “Development of Civil-Military Relations in Croatia,” 80.

25. “Croatian Defence Ministry, Armed Forces to be cut by 2,000 employees by 2007” BBC Monitoring, March 31, 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe; and The Military Balance: 2003-2004 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003): 69.

26. “Croatia to Abolish Military Corps, Develop Deployable, Mobile Forces by 2007,” BBC Monitoring, March 11, 2006, in Lexis-Nexis, world news, Europe.

27. “Croatian Military Conscription System to be Reviewed” BBC Monitoring, January 12 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe; “Croatian Parliament Opens Debate on Military Reform, BBC Monitoring, July 6, 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news file Europe. For a broader discussion of conscription reform efforts across the alliance, see Cindy Williams, “From Conscripts to Volunteers: NATO's Transitions to All Volunteer Forces,” Naval War College Review (Winter, 2005): pp. 35–62.

28. “Croatian State Leadership Discusses Military Reforms” BBC Monitoring, June 29, 2006, at lexis-nexis, world news, Europe.

29. Major Richard B. Liebl, Marin Braovac, Andrijana Jelic, “Security Assistance Programs: The Catalyst for Transition in the Croatian Military,” DISAM Journal, vol. 24, no. 3 (2002): 5–9. For more on this background during the Tudjman years, see Wheaton, “Cultivating Croatia's Military.”

30. “Croatia, Russia sign Accord on Delivery of New Helicopters,” BBC Monitoring, July 6, 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news file.

31. “Croatia to Purchase 126 Armoured Vehicles,” BBC Monitoring, April 4, 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news file, Europe.

32. Igor Salinger “Croatia Outlines Air Force Reform as it Aims for NATO,” Flight International, July 18, 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe.

33. For a complete list of Croatian troop missions see, http://www.morh.hr/osrh/data/misije_en.html. See also “Croatian Defence Minister Denies New ISAF Contingent to Play Combat Role,” BBC Monitoring, June 1, 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe; “US Praises Croatia's Contribution to War on Terror,” BBC Monitoring, April 28, 2006; and in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe.

34. Nicholas Wood, “Croatian Turnaround Led to General's Arrest,” International Herald Tribune, December 28, 2005, 3; “Croatian President Tells NATO Chief Gotovina to be Arrested if in Country,” BBC Monitoring, March 1, 2005; See also U.S. Congressman Elton Gallegly's positive response to Gotovina's capture from the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia, Weekly Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 50 (December 3–9, 2005): 2.

35. “Croatia Praised for Progress Made in Meeting NATO Membership Criteria,” BBC Monitoring, May 29, 2006, in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe.

36. “Croatian Leaders to Explain NATO Entry Benefits Better to Public,” BBC Monitoring, July 6, 2006, in lexis-nexis world news, Europe. See also “Chief Urges Croatia to Boost Public Backing for Membership,” NATO BBC Monitoring, April 14, 2005, lexis-nexis, world news, Europe.

37. Nicholas Wood, “Cheney Backs 3 States in EU and NATO Bids,” International Herald Tribune, May 9, 2006, 8.

38. “Croatia Decides ‘In Complete Secrecy’ to Send Instructors to Train Iraqi Police,” BBC Monitoring, April 8, 2005, in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe; “Incoming Croatian Diplomat in Iraq Speaks on Role of Embassy and Baghdad,” BBC Monitoring, September 5, 2005, in lexis-nexis, world news, Europe; and Thomas Fuller, “East Europeans Line Up Behind Bush,” International Herald Tribune, February 6, 2003, 1.