Dustin A Runyard
POL399 Capstone
Research proposal
The European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are both international organizations that revolve around club goods theory. Club goods is an economic theory that assumes that there are mutually beneficial public goods that are offered by an organization. These goods could consist of national defense, monetary reforms, subsidies, liberalization of trade or developmental programs, which the latter could include civil and militarily. However, for the club goods theory to work within the frame work of the EU and NATO, these organization must have the following criteria. They must be a voluntary member, use exclusionary barriers for entry and in addition they use cost verse benefit analysis. The latter of the three requirements verges into the rational actor theory. This theory maintains that an actor or in this case the state is seeking to maximize their utility and will seek membership if the benefits outweigh the costs.
NATO and the EU maintain operations that are primarily considered as exclusionary international organizations made up of member states. However, given the special relationships with outside member states that receive benefits from the organizations how has NATO or the EU diminished their role as an exclusionary actor, while offering benefits to nonmember states including international collaboration between the EU and NATO respectively. The research that is being proposed is based off of the two theories discussed sequentially. The primary club goods theory will examine membership requirements, maintaining and retaining membership and the benefits that are exposed to member states. Furthermore there will be an examination with non-members states that receive assistance from NATO, which will include but not limited to security. The EU will be primarily be discussed as a club member that works within the paradigm. The research will try to prove that the traditional role of NATO has changed during the conclusion of the cold war drastically. The hypothesis maintains that the more members that have entered through the deepening process has decreased the effectiveness of NATO’s mission. Additionally, rational actors will not seek membership if there is no benefit that outweighs the cost. Likewise, spending resources on non-members decreases the benefits with joining the IO.
The purpose of the research is to validate that there is a complex environment in Europe. The European theater from the perspective form the US and its allies has maintained that stability in Europe is maintained by cooperative interdependence and shared interests. Furthermore there are echoes between both IOs that maintain standards, in particular three concepts are clearly stated for both IOs. Both envision democracy, market economy, and a version of fair humanitarian rights for minority groups. If there is a shift in the paradigm, this could also be interpreted as a potential identifier for more theories to build on, such as the relationship of power or theories based on relationships of interdependence.
