Can Georgia Get Back on the NATO Track?

Georgia, the most fervent pursuer of membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization among remaining candidates, seeks to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the April 2008 summit in Bucharest. Despite the name, a MAP is not a promise of future NATO membership but a mechanism designed to help “aspiring countries” become more attractive candidates. The United States and most of NATO’s newer members support a MAP for Georgia, as well as for the other 2008 aspirant, Ukraine. However, several other NATO members, with Germany in the lead, are wary of giving Georgia (or Ukraine) a MAP.