NATO Membership and the Democratization of Post-Communist Countries
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The Symposium provides undergraduates from all academic disciplines with an opportunity to share their research with the university community and other guests through conference-style oral presentations. The Symposium represents part of a larger effort of Iowa State University to enhance, support, and celebrate undergraduate research activity.
Though coordinated by the University Honors Program, all undergraduate students are eligible and encouraged to participate in the Symposium. Undergraduates conducting research but not yet ready to present their work are encouraged to attend the Symposium to learn about the presentation process and students not currently involved in research are encouraged to attend the Symposium to learn about the broad range of undergraduate research activities that are taking place at ISU.
The first Symposium was held in April 2007. The 39 students who presented research and their mentors collectively represented all of ISU's Colleges: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, Design, Engineering, Human Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and the Graduate College. The event has grown to regularly include more than 100 students presenting on topics that span the broad range of disciplines studied at ISU.
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I have always been interested in studying the influences international organizations can have on a country's domestic policy. Last summer I had the opportunity to study abroad in Brussels, Belgium and tour many headquarters of powerful international organizations, but the one that stood out most was NATO. After the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union disbanded, several countries formed new governments. Some became democracies and others did not. I looked at a potential explanation for a country’s democratization: NATO membership. Many post-communist countries became NATO members and with its last three expansions, the organization has nearly doubled in size, with all the new members being former communist states. I compared six countries’ levels of freedom based on Freedom House data from 2014 and concluded that on average for those six countries NATO members had greater levels of freedom than nonmembers. This study supports the theory that NATO membership influenced countries to democratize and is a small step in the path to better understanding international organizations influence on domestic policies. It is impossible to prove anything with a small case study, but I hope to expand my analysis in the future.