Inside NATO Headquarters. NATO, the Arctic and the Struggle for Recognition

This dissertation examines struggles for recognition as enacted in representations and social interactions at NATO Headquarters. I argue that (mis)recognition and related struggles, present a central social dynamic influencing how allies engage with each other within the alliance community. Theoretically, the dissertation engages with Theory of Recognition in International Relations. It enhances the understanding of recognition in a multilateral setting and works with recognition as a social dynamic operating along two central dimensions: affiliation, affirming allies’ sense of belonging, and distinctiveness, validating allies in their autonomy within the collective. The dissertation develops a typology of different aspects of these dimensions which captures how, in different ways, these dimensions are enacted by allies in NATO Headquarters.

Empirically, the dissertation investigates NATO’s renewed focus on the Arctic, using this focus as a lens to illuminate dynamics of recognition in the Headquarters. Analytically, it offers insight into what it means to develop into an ‘Arctic Alliance’ and, thus, to become an Arctic ally. Based on methods, anchored within qualitative interview studies, observation studies and text-analysis, the analytical part of the dissertation examines how the seven Arctic allies seek recognition, balancing their need for affiliation and distinctiveness. The dissertation gives a unique insight into what geostrategic adaptation looks like inside NATO Headquarters, and how struggles for recognition play a central role in this process.

Ultimately, the dissertation opens a window into NATO Headquarters, emphasising the need, in research to take seriously its internal, social dynamics. Opening the ‘black box’ of NATO Headquarters, examining allies balancing their needs for recognition, the dissertation contributes to grasping what it means to ally in practice and provides a perspective on elements influencing cohesion in the alliance community of NATO.