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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 10-26-2016 Exponential Capacity of Power and Its Impact on the Military Alliance Dynamics Nikoloz G. Esitashvili Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC001203 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Esitashvili, Nikoloz G., "Exponential Capacity of Power and Its Impact on the Military Alliance Dynamics" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3030. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3030 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida EXPONENTIAL CAPACITY OF POWER AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MILITARY ALLIANCE DYNAMICS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS by Nikoloz Gabriel Esitashvili 2016 To: Dean John F. Stack, Jr. Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs This dissertation, written by Nikoloz Gabriel Esitashvili, and entitled Exponential Capacity of Power and its Impact on the Military Alliance Dynamics, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Ronald Cox _______________________________________ Shlomi Dinar _______________________________________ Rebecca Friedman _______________________________________ Félix E. Martín, Major Professor Date of Defense: October 26, 2016 The dissertation of Nikoloz Gabriel Esitashvili is approved. _______________________________________ choose the name of dean of your college/school Dean John F. Stack, Jr. Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs _______________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2016 ii © Copyright 2016 by Nikoloz Gabriel Esitashvili All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION I want to devote my work to my family, particularly to my mother Inga Kenkadze, whose infinite sacrifices and support have made it possible for me to go this far. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My deepest gratitude to the members of the dissertation committee, whose patience and support has made it so much easier for me to produce this work. I want to thank my major advisor Dr. Félix E. Martín, for me an epitome of a mentor, who has made sure that my path from the first day of writing my work to its defense would be as smooth as possible. This journey has been easy and enjoyable because of him! My deepest gratitude to FIU, whose Graduate Teaching Assistantship, Dissertation Evidence Acquisition, Dissertation Year Fellowship, and the Morris and Anita Broad Research Fellowship have provided me with the crucial pecuniary support, without which this work would have remained a distant project. v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION EXPONENTIAL CAPACITY OF POWER AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MILITARY ALLIANCE DYNAMICS by Nikoloz Gabriel Esitashvili Florida International University, 2016 Miami, Florida Professor Félix. E. Martín, Major Professor The Cold War ended in 1991, yet the North Atlantic Treaty Organization still persists. This outcome defies paradoxically two exceedingly important facts: First, NATO’s central and greatest geostrategic rival—the Soviet Union—disappeared a quarter of a century ago. Second, China and Russia are insufficiently capable to individually challenge and counterbalance NATO’s military supremacy and conventional military might. From a theoretical perspective, in the absence of an immediate threat and/or the need to counterbalance relative power, International Relations alliance theory would posit the dissolution of military alliances. Nonetheless, NATO continues to endure. This study seeks to elucidate the strategic factors generating this puzzling historical and theoretical development. This study demonstrated that the political economy of the defense industry has become an important variable that can affect the power of states and the endurance of alliances. The study analyzed three equivalent cases of military alliance dynamics—the aftermath of the Great World War, the Second World War, and the post-Cold-War phase of NATO. The analysis of these three cases served to probe and demonstrate the vi necessary and sufficient conditions for the presence and endurance of military alliances. According to International Relations alliance theory such conditions should be, first, the presence of external threats and, second, the compatibility of national interests. This study employed the comparative case study method in order to shed light on the nature of threats faced by great powers during different time periods. Further, the study used the focused comparison method in conjunction with the intensive case study approach to explore in depth the states’ strategic military and economic interests and alliance decisions. Having analyzed the external threats and compatibility of great power interests in different time periods, the study concluded that neither of the two abovementioned conditions is sufficient to explain the endurance and deepening of the level of cooperation among the great powers participating in NATO. This study demonstrated that technological features of military production—the size and extent of scale economies, economies of scope, and learning-by-doing—and escalating military costs have been crucial and complementary factors affecting the motivations and intra- alliance politics of NATO member-states after the Cold War. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Why does NATO Persist? .................................................................................4 Literature Review: Neorealist Theories and Alliance Dynamics ......................5 Relationship of Power, Balancing Behavior, and Alliance Dynamics ..............7 Motivations of States and Their Alliance Strategies........................................13 II. MARKET IMPERFECTIONS AND SECURITY: NEOREALISM AND INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCES .................................................................19 Market Imperfections .......................................................................................24 Economies of Scale in Military Production ....................................................26 Methodology and Central Research Question .................................................29 Ancillary Research Questions and Hypotheses ..............................................31 III. POST-WWI ALLIANCE DYNAMICS AMONG GREAT POWERS...........37 Background of WWI ........................................................................................38 Political and Military Alliances .......................................................................39 Colonial Politics and Naval Power Before World War I ................................45 The War Trigger: Conflicts in the Balkans .....................................................48 Post-WWI .......................................................................................................52 Peace Treaties and National Boundaries .........................................................53 American Approach .........................................................................................55 British Approach ..............................................................................................58 French Approach ..............................................................................................60 Aftermath, 1920–1924 .....................................................................................63 Conclusion .......................................................................................................64 IV. POST WORLD WAR II ALLIANCE DYNAMICS AMONG GREAT POWERS .........................................................................................................67 Background of the WWII.................................................................................68 Causes of WWII ..............................................................................................69 Impotence of the League of Nations ...............................................................79 Assault on the Soviet Union ...........................................................................80 Japanese Involvement in WWII ......................................................................81 World War II Ends .........................................................................................83 Post World War II ...........................................................................................83 American Interests ..........................................................................................84 British Interests ...............................................................................................90 British and American Disagreement ................................................................95 Conclusion of the Geneva Negotiations ..........................................................98
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