Integration of Post-Soviet Republics into NATO: Comparative Analysis of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Estonia and Georgia

Abstract

Estonia and Georgia, the two former Soviet republics, at the time of the collapse of the USSR, had quite a similar experience of statecraft: they bothlived under communist rule, did not have any experience of democratic development and market relations, were approximately at the same levelof development among the 15 Soviet republics and also experienced the same pressure on awakening national identity and orientation towardsEuropean values. However, with the collapse of the USSR, very distinct tendencies emerged in these two states. If Estonia, together with otherpost-Soviet Baltic countries, took a course towards deep reformation of the country and integration with Europe and ensuring security through joiningthe North Atlantic alliance, then Georgia, under the newly elected nationalist government of Gamsakhurdia, chose the path of confrontation withnational minorities and its closest neighbors, and the building of a Common Caucasian Home (primarily with the North Caucasian republics beingpart of the Russian Federation), which led the country to a civil war, self-isolation and alienation from the West. This led to two completely differenttrajectories in the conduct of these countries in the international arena in the next three decades. The paper compares the two Euro-centric post-Sovietstates, Estonia and Georgia, in the context of NATO integration. By drawing a variety of parallels, the research refers to both historical experiences,transformational abilities, the readiness of political elites to carry out radical reforms and explores several reasons explaining differences in the Euro-Atlantic international path of Estonia and Georgia. At the same time, the article examines several external factors and particularly the Russian one,that influenced the integration path of these countries: in one case, giving the green light to joining the alliance (a case of Estonia) and, in the other,all kinds of opposition to NATO membership (a case of Georgia).