Military Alliances and Trade Relationships : Assessing the Economic Impact of NATO Membership in the Western Balkans

This bachelor’s thesis explores a claim made by researchers since the early 1990s, that membership of a military alliances should improve trade relationships for members. This proposed causal relationship has been tested in large-N quantitative research, but the field has few case studies. This thesis is such a case study. Looking at only one alliance, NATO, and one time period 2007-2012, the thesis tries to isolate as much as possible. To further that goal, three western Balkan nations are studied, Albania, Croatia and North Macedonia. Albania and Croatia joined NATO in 2009, North Macedonia did not join the alliance during the period of study. Combining statistical data given by World Integrated Trade Solution and qualitative research collected from the countries of study, the thesis examines how their trade relationships with NATO and non-NATO countries changed over the period of study. The hypothesized changes in trade relationships are not supported by the data. The findings bring up interesting avenues for future research on the existence and dimensions of the proposed relationship between military alliances and trade.