Hur konstrueras NATO:s bördefördelning som ett problem? En diskursanalys av USA:s, Frankrikes och Tysklands problemrepresentationer

Sammanfattning

The burden sharing debate within NATO has gained new media attention following Donald Trump's recent statements about the alliance. Previous research on the issue has primarily focused on material aspects of the problem. This study examines the discourses of USA, France and Germany on the matter with Lene Hansen's theory on poststructuralism and Carol Bacchi’s WPR method to find what problem representations those discourses produce. In addition, the study examines what understandings of responsibility these problem representations create and what policy actions are legitimized. This study finds that the different discourses produce different problematizations. USA primarily focuses on the economic aspect and placing the responsibility on the European members, thereby legitimizing the policy solution where they spend more on their national defenses to pay back the debt they owe USA. The French discourse produces a problematization where a broader set of policy actions are legitimized, although within the limits of a more independent, stronger European side of NATO. Germany’s discourse produces a problematization where responsibility is placed on trust and solidarity, legitimizing a stronger Europe within the alliance to strengthen NATO as a whole. These different representations of the problem allow for different understandings of who bears the responsibility of the problem and what solutions that are politically viable.