NMC Policy Memo Analyzing Ukraine’s Membership In NATO Questions In the wake of Russia’s invasions of Crimea and the Donbass region, Ukraine is feeling the

NMC Policy Memo Analyzing Ukraine’s Membership In NATO Questions In the wake of Russia’s invasions of Crimea and the Donbass region, Ukraine is feeling the heat. Ukraine has long had a stated goal of joining both the EU and NATO (in fact, accession to NATO is written into Ukraine’s constitution!). But does NATO want Ukraine?

You are an intern in the office of Kay Bailey Hutchison, the US Ambassador to NATO. She has asked you to write a backgrounder and policy memo analyzing the question of Ukrainian membership in NATO.

Your memo will cover the following issues:

1. Discussion of Ukraine’s current security situation

2. Assessment of how adding Ukraine would affect NATO generally and the United States in particular

3. Strongest case for adding Ukraine to NATO from US perspective

4. Strongest case against adding Ukraine to NATO from US perspective

5. Recommendation of what US position on Ukraine membership should be and why

Please note: Your ultimate goal is not to produce an expert analysis of a professional Ukraine watcher, but to provide a logical, thoughtful, and well-written assessment that illustrates your best effort.

Your memo should follow this general structure for maximum excellence:

1. A summary introduction stating the purpose of your memo and briefly noting the recommendation you make.

2. A brief summary of Ukraine’s military and political situation vis a vis Russia.

3. An objective analysis of how adding Ukraine would affect NATO’s ability to operate effectively and to fulfill its most important mission: providing security for its members. This section should use some sort of thoughtful analytical framework…obviously! 4. A similar analysis of how adding Ukraine would affect the United States specifically, beyond the general NATO impacts. You should also have a framework for this – it will be different from the first framework.

5. Case for adding Ukraine. You should reuse your framework from section 4 but now you are going to need to explain which assumptions and priorities would make adding Ukraine a good idea.

6. Case against Ukraine. Same here – reuse the framework from section 4 but now explain which assumptions and priorities would make adding Ukraine a bad idea. 2

7. Final recommendation and brief explanation of why your recommendation is the best option (i.e. you now have to explain which assumptions and priorities make most sense for the United States).

Paper Guidelines

1. Papers should have your name on the first page along with the course number, etc.

2. Papers should be 12-point font (Times New Roman preferred), double-spaced, with standard margins.

3. Papers should be roughly 10-12 pages in length but a bit longer is fine if you’re inspired

4. Number your pages

5. You can use any citation system you like as long as consistent and clear