The SNSF-funded research project Narrative Belonging: Memory Politics and NATO Enlargement in Europe, is hosted by the Department of International History and Politics and the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) at the Geneva Graduate Institute. The project examines how memories of the past have shaped NATO enlargement and Europe’s evolving security order since the end of the Cold War. Moving beyond conventional military and strategic explanations, it places memory politics and historical narratives at the centre of how enlargement has been understood and enacted.

The project focuses on key episodes of NATO enlargement, in particular the 1999 accession of the Visegrád countries and the 2004 enlargement involving the Baltic States, as well as more recent accessions of Finland and Sweden. It argues that these states actively framed NATO membership as a moral obligation, a historical redemption, and a civilizational “return to Europe,” reshaping enlargement as both a geopolitical and cultural project. By combining political history, cultural history, and memory studies, the project foregrounds how aspirant states have actively mobilized collective memory, trauma, and identity to reimagine and legitimize their place within Euro-Atlantic structures. It explores how national narratives—such as occupation, neutrality, liberation, and political transition—interact with NATO’s symbolic practices, including ceremonies, anniversaries, and public rituals.

The research team employs qualitative methods, including archival research (NATO and national archives), media analysis, and oral history interviews with policymakers and diplomats.

Timeline: 2026-2030

Funding organisation: Swiss National Science Foundation

Principal investigator: Jussi Hanhimäki