The Conclusion of the Book

This book has been written as a combination of theory testing and a historical evaluative text (Van Evera, S., Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Cornell University, Ithaca, 1997). It covers the 25-year process of the post-Cold War expansion of NATO. Today, we know that this process substantially redrew the boundaries in the Old Continent and profoundly changed the whole framework of international security relations (ISR), and that it resulted in a long–term war between the two biggest and most important post–Soviet states. Moreover, it is a merciless war between the two biggest Slavic nations. All the above–mentioned changes have been analysed within the framework of a dominantly qualitative research which was based on five research questions articulated in the first chapter of this book. They are neither closed–ended nor normative research questions. All of these five questions have the character of positive and open–ended research questions.