{"id":2594,"date":"2026-06-22T16:32:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/?p=2594"},"modified":"2026-06-22T16:32:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:32:46","slug":"addressing-the-nato-credibility-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/2026\/addressing-the-nato-credibility-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing the NATO Credibility Gap in the Baltics and the South Caucasus: What are the Limits of the Alliance\u2019s Engagement?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-max  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n        \n                    \n                    \n            \n    <div class=\"cu-wideimage relative flex items-center justify-center mx-auto px-8 overflow-hidden md:px-16 rounded-xl not-prose  my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 bg-opacity-50 bg-cover bg-cu-black-50 py-24 md:py-28 lg:py-36 xl:py-48\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/2023-07-11T000000Z_318524779_MT1NURPHO000QDUTHT_RTRMADP_3_NATO-SUMMIT-scaled-1-1600x700.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%;\">\n\n                    <div class=\"absolute top-0 w-full h-screen\" style=\"background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.600);\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"relative z-[2] max-w-4xl w-full flex flex-col items-center gap-2 cu-wideimage-image cu-zero-first-last\">\n            <header class=\"mx-auto mb-6 text-center text-white cu-pageheader cu-component-updated cu-pageheader--center md:mb-12\">\n\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold mb-2 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] cu-pageheader--center text-center mx-auto after:left-px\">\n                        Addressing the NATO Credibility Gap in the Baltics and the South Caucasus: What are the Limits of the Alliance\u2019s Engagement?  \n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                    \n\n<p>By Ertu\u011frul Emre\u00a0Kula\u00e7, Carleton University<\/p>\n\n\n                            <\/header>\n        <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    \n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"key-findings\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Findings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NATO and Western partners are widely viewed as desirable security\u00a0partners\u00a0in Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, and Latvia, with the strongest support in the Baltic states and Georgia.\u00a0Perceptions\u00a0of NATO\u2019s security impact are highly positive in Estonia and Latvia, and\u00a0most citizens support continued NATO membership. However, about one-third in each country expect to\u00a0receive no external\u00a0assistance\u00a0or aid in the\u00a0face\u00a0of a security\u00a0crisis.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the South Caucasus, favourable views of NATO do not translate into expectations of crisis support. Few\u00a0identify\u00a0NATO as the main crisis responder, while self-reliance is the dominant view. In Armenia, public opinion is evenly split on alignment, with equal support for closer ties to NATO and Russia.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Considering this,\u00a0NATO should increase regular and visible reassurance in regions where it is the main defense guarantor, especially in the Baltic states, and address the concerns of those who expect to\u00a0be self-reliant\u00a0during crises. In the South Caucasus, NATO should manage public expectations and focus on building resilience and preparedness, given limited direct security options.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To read the full policy memo, download a PDF copy with the button below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/acrobat.adobe.com\/id\/urn:aaid:sc:us:4c419561-6856-4240-832a-705961420beb\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Policy memo examines how NATO can address its growing credibility gap and the concerns of nations on its frontiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":2596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[101,95,180,193,171,145,1,94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenia","category-azerbaijan","category-black-sea","category-caspian-sea","category-mentorship","category-nato","category-news","category-south-caucasus"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2597,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594\/revisions\/2597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}