The Practice of Alliance‐Building: How the Contested NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Came to Life?

ABSTRACT Traditional theoretical approaches, which draw on International Relations, Foreign Policy Analysis or Policy Studies to analyse international public policymaking, reveal some important aspects of global governance, but fail to account for the complexity, unpredictability and even messiness of the multilateral diplomatic deliberations, reported by practitioners. Through a detailed discussion of how NATO established the policy of enhanced Forward Presence between 2014 and 2016, this article argues that pragmatic approach to studying policymaking in international organizations is especially useful, as it recognizes the fluidity of the policy process, its relational and nonlinear character, and acknowledges the multiplicity of actors with shifting identities and interests, deliberating in loosely defined spaces. The toolbox of concepts— problematization, valuation, interessment and enrolment—proposed by policy transaction approach, helpfully illuminates empirical observations about international politics and diplomacy.