U.S. Stance towards NATO during Biden's Presidency: Implications for the Baltic States

• In Event: Regional Security in the Face of Russian Aggression

Abstract

After Russia‘s unprovoked aggression against one of European countries, Ukraine, in 2022, European security landscape has undergone several transformations: militarily non-aligned Finland has become part of NATO; the U.S. has strengthened its military presence in Europe; NATO has for the first time named China as a strategic challenge.
Biden’s administration, on the one hand, repeatedly highlighted the importance of NATO for the U.S. security and expressed support for NATO’s enlargement. On the other hand, the U.S. president also declared that he did not think Ukraine was ready for membership in NATO. Moreover, certain NATO-related issues seemed to be causing discussions among the U.S. foreign and security policy decision-makers.
Based on original data drawn from semi-structured interviews with American think-tanks conducted in autoumn of 2023, the paper explores the U.S. position towards NATO during the Biden presidency and the implications of such stance to the Baltic States. Should NATO be enlarged in the future? What conditions should Ukraine need to fulfill to become a NATO member (If any)? What position NATO should take towards Russia in short, medium, and long-term? What further steps should be taken to strengthen NATO‘s Eastern Flank? Should China be on NATO‘s agenda? These and other questions are addressed in the paper.

Short Bio

Gerda Jakštaitė-Confortola is a senior researcher in General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania. Her research focuses on transatlantic relations, U.S. domestic and foreign policy, U.S.-Russian relations, international security. She is the head of the national research project funded by Ministry of Defense of Lithuania “Impact of changes in transatlantic security area on Lithuania and the Baltic Sea“.
She holds a PhD in Political Science from Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas where she lectured on international relations and international security (2009-2023). She is the recipient of a U.S. Department of State fellowship on U.S. Grand Strategy. She published extensively on international relations topics, gave lectures in universities of Bologna, Cagliari, Aveiro, Perugia, Trieste, Milan, and presented her research results in international conferences.

Author

• Gerda Jakštaitė Confortola, General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy Of Lithuania