SLOVENIA AND NATO -
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
Authors: JAZBEC MILAN 
Published: February 2021

The paper reflects the Slovenian NATO membership process, primarily during its last period from 2000 to 2004. The author understands this project within the broader scope of changes that followed after the end of the Cold War and as part of the European integration process. It took Slovenia, which was the only dual member in the 2004 enlargements in the region, a decade to gain membership. For the Slovenian defence and military system as well as for the country’s security as a whole it was the most important achievement after the independence. It strengthened the Slovenian defence and military identity as well as supported various transformational trends that were going on in the Slovenian Armed Forces, like professionalization, deployability and modernization. It developed the understanding of the armed forces as a foreign policy tool and pushed for new foreign policy goals after the previous ones (NATO and the EU membership) were realized. The year 2004 presents the so far peak in the integration dynamics that has changed the Euro-Atlantic area. It was the year of stabilization, reached by the so-called Big Bang enlargement. Some of the lessons learned from the NATO enlargements were misunderstood in the Western Balkans; hence the enlargement stalemate. After 2004 the integration dynamics became a reality in the region which, for the first time in its history, had a unique opportunity for stabilization. Slovenia shared its experiences and lessons learned with countries in the region. The author also includes a selection of his personal reflections on the process, since they were rather unique for the Slovenian case. The methods used are presentation, analysis, comment, comparison, generalization and the method of observing through one’s own participation.

Prispevek obravnava proces vključevanja Slovenije v Nato, predvsem v letih 2000– 2004. Avtor ga razume v okviru širših sprememb, ki so se zgodile ob koncu hladne vojne, in kot del evropskega integracijskega procesa. Slovenija je bila edina država v širši regiji, ki je postala članica Nata in EU leta 2004, proces pa je trajal dobro desetletje. Za slovenski obrambno-varnostni sistem in za varnost države je bil to najpomembnejši dosežek po osamosvojitvi. Članstvo v Natu je okrepilo slovensko obrambo in vojaško identiteto ter pospešilo različne transformacijske procese, ki so potekali v Slovenski vojski, na primer profesionalizacijo, namestljivost in modernizacijo. Prav tako je oblikovalo razumevanje dejstva, da so vojaške sile orodje zunanje politike in da sta se temeljna zunanjepolitična cilja države (članstvo v Natu in EU) po uresničitvi spremenila v sredstvo za dosego novih ciljev. Leto 2004 predstavlja vrh integracijske dinamike, ki je spremenila evro-atlantski prostor. To je bilo leto stabilizacije, ki je bila dosežena s t. i. velikim širitvenim pokom. Nekatera spoznanja iz Natovih širitev po koncu hladne vojne niso bila razumljena na Zahodnem Balkanu, kar je vplivalo na zastoj širitvenega procesa. Po širitvi 2004 pa je postala integracijska dinamika v tej regiji vsakdanja, tako je območje dobilo prvič v zgodovini edinstveno priložnost za stabilizacijo. Tudi Slovenija je posredovala svoje širitvene izkušnje državam v regiji. Avtor poleg tega predstavlja še nekatere osebne izkušnje, ki pripomorejo k prikazu posebnosti slovenskega članstva v Natu. V prispevku so uporabljene razne metode, in sicer predstavitev, analiza, komentar, primerjava, generalizacija ter metoda opazovanja z udeležbo.