Deterrence icons as status symbols: American forces in NATO’s eastern flank
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Deterrence icons as status symbols : American forces in NATO’s eastern flank. / Mälksoo, Maria.
I: Cooperation and Conflict, Bind TBD, Nr. TBD, 25.05.2024, s. 1-22.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Deterrence icons as status symbols
T2 - American forces in NATO’s eastern flank
AU - Mälksoo, Maria
N1 - This article is part of the special issue ‘Status symbols in World Politics’, edited by Paul Beaumont and Pål Røren.
PY - 2024/5/25
Y1 - 2024/5/25
N2 - How can a signal of extended deterrence, such as prepositioning of foreign military forces, signify status for the beneficiaries of the allied deterrence/reassurance chain? This article explores how the manifestation and communication of allied deterrence can concurrently constitute an affectively charged status symbol for the protégé states of this international security practice. It does so on the example of the Baltic states and Poland, probing the presence and functionality of the American forces as a status marker in NATO’s eastern flank states post-2014. Engaging discourse analysis and expert interviews, the article shows (i) how the intersubjectively determined success of deterrence is dependent on historically potent symbols which have become emblematic of extended deterrence, and (ii) how deterrence icons can simultaneously serve as multifarious status symbols in intra-alliance politics. The self-identification of protégé states as worthy stakes to deter over emerges as an ambivalent status position defined by the shortage of attributes, rather than a function of their tally. The article contributes to the understanding of the symbolic form of (allied) deterrence and the multivocal status value ascribed to the American ‘boots on the ground’.
AB - How can a signal of extended deterrence, such as prepositioning of foreign military forces, signify status for the beneficiaries of the allied deterrence/reassurance chain? This article explores how the manifestation and communication of allied deterrence can concurrently constitute an affectively charged status symbol for the protégé states of this international security practice. It does so on the example of the Baltic states and Poland, probing the presence and functionality of the American forces as a status marker in NATO’s eastern flank states post-2014. Engaging discourse analysis and expert interviews, the article shows (i) how the intersubjectively determined success of deterrence is dependent on historically potent symbols which have become emblematic of extended deterrence, and (ii) how deterrence icons can simultaneously serve as multifarious status symbols in intra-alliance politics. The self-identification of protégé states as worthy stakes to deter over emerges as an ambivalent status position defined by the shortage of attributes, rather than a function of their tally. The article contributes to the understanding of the symbolic form of (allied) deterrence and the multivocal status value ascribed to the American ‘boots on the ground’.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - deterrence
KW - status symbol
KW - US presence
KW - NATO
KW - Baltic states
KW - Poland
U2 - 10.1177/00108367241254307
DO - 10.1177/00108367241254307
M3 - Journal article
VL - TBD
SP - 1
EP - 22
JO - Cooperation and Conflict
JF - Cooperation and Conflict
SN - 0010-8367
IS - TBD
ER -
ID: 392781005