The Impact of U.S. Forward Force Posture on Central Eastern European Foreign and Security Policy

Absztrakt (kivonat)

Over the years, the U.S. has conducted bilateral defence cooperation agreements that set the necessary conditions to enhance its military footprint in Central Eastern Europe. This led to the question on how U.S. forward basing in Central Eastern European impacts the security, geopolitical balance, and regionalism in Europe. The significant foreign and security policy shift in Washington towards Central Eastern Europe, after Ukraine, came with increasing U.S. presence. The military strategy transformed form assurance to deterrence and its relative success remains debated. The increasing cooperation and investment framework under the DCA regimes arrived at a critical time when CEE nations begin the modernization of their military and buying American or buying European became an integral part of the countries modernization policy. This race to modernize the military Central Eastern Europe signals the growing competition between Europe and the U.S. For the past few years, the U.S. began the development of small and flexible strategic footprints in select former Warsaw Pact countries, increasing its pre-positioning presence. Although the region is composed of quantitatively small and qualitatively limited countries their prowess lies in their ability to contribute to the necessary logistical, medical, and prepositioning conditions and supplement the operational capacity of larger NATO member states. The forward military posture of America has become a key defining element within the foreign and security policy of the Baltic states, Poland, and Romania. Countries like Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia continue attempts to follow a more multi-vector approach to avoid collision with Russia. What is clear, form the developments in bilateral relations from 2014 is that the U.S. began to place greater value in CEE countries but at the same time this drove a wedge between “Old” and “New” Europe.