NATO survived the cold war’s end due to institutionalization, not merely threats

Evidence

While some recent analyses conclude that neither neorealist nor neoliberal hypotheses with respect to NATO have been borne out, it is by now clear that NATO has survived the end of the cold war, living up more closely to institutionalist arguments than to neorealist ones. … NATO exists nonetheless at a level of institutionalization today that cannot be explained by threats alone. While neorealism would lead us to expect a revised definition of the external threat that NATO members faced after 1991, neorealism cannot easily account for what NATO has done in response. It has expanded its relationship to other international organizations as part of an effort to embed itself further into the framework of European, and to a lesser extent trans-Atlantic, relations. In so doing, NATO has demonstrated the flexibility expected of both organizations and international institutions. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 152

Categorization

• XREF: Directly echoes institutionalist vs neorealist debate in IR theory; supports the reader’s theme that institutions persist after founding threats vanish, contradicting neorealist expectations. — connects to: NATO has expanded rather than dissolved after the Soviet threat ended. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 15; NATO reoriented itself after the Cold War and stayed valuable without a compelling threat — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 29; NATO formed fast after Nazi surrender but stayed long after its Soviet enemy vanished. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 46 (+12 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: Condenses the core theoretical puzzle — institutionalist flexibility explains organizational persistence where threat-based realism cannot — in a few dense sentences.

Broader Connections

• NATO’s dense institutionalization beyond mutual defense is what made it survive its founding threat. #corroborates (0.97) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 107
• NATO stayed cohesive despite neorealist predictions of its collapse #corroborates (0.88) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 57
• High institutionalization distinguishes NATO from traditional alliances. #expands (0.85) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 107
• Cold War institutions outlive the conditions that justified them #expands (0.82) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 857