Kallt Krig. Är det dags igen?: En strukturfokuserad jämförelse av relationen mellan NATO och Ryssland

Sammanfattning: Since the early 1990s, NATO and Russia have cooperated in a number of areas. Relations grew stronger, even though there were clear contradictions in various fields. But the cooperation continued until the beginning of 2014 when Russia through violence annexed the Crimean peninsula. The action had the consequence of NATO suspending any and all cooperation with Russia and relations are at the worst they have been for over twenty years. Many scholars argue that NATO and Russia are in the starting blocks of a Cold War and point at various factors that led to Russia's actions in Ukraine as proof. Most scholars agree that NATO's enlargement in 1999 and 2004 is one of the major contributing causes. While the missile defense that NATO is constructing in Europe with the help of the United States is also considered to be a factor. That Russia was willing to use force to get their will through was proved back in 2008 during the Russian-Georgian war, but to go a step further and violate the principle of sovereignty came as a surprise to most. This paper will examine the researchers' assumptions about whether NATO and Russia really are heading into a Cold War and try to either prove or falsify the claims.