Description
What holds NATO together? IR scholars have long pointed at the need for a better understanding of the relationship between identity and difference in the formation and maintenance of security communities. Building on Durkheim’s social theory, I argue that social cohesion in a security community rests on ritual activity even when there is no or little political consensus. Employing the case of the transatlantic security community, I develop a framework that explains how ritual generates social cohesion among NATO member states. The central argument is that rituals play an important role in community building among NATO members at various levels. They generate a sense of we-ness in the process of their enactment.
