The south Caucasus and NATO’S defence education enhancement programme. Retrospective analysis

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review NATO’s Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) and to highlight the challenges and implications of its implementation and to examine the extent to which this initiative contribute to the cooperation in the field of education in the South Caucasus region. The importance of DEEP has been underscored in increasing interoperability between the South Caucasus countries and NATO. The functions of DEEP have been defined, their value for the nations in the South Caucasus have been highlighted. The retrospective analysis has been conducted in order to measure the effectiveness of DEEP in enhancing interoperability with NATO. Current and future perspectives of DEEP have been introduced to enhance the South Caucasus – NATO cooperation. The aim of the paper is to point out the importance of DEEP as a new potential for improving professional military education (PME) and building better integrated forces in the South Caucasus. At the same time, the aim is to identify factors that will lead towards the enhancement of the relations amongst the South Caucasus nations themselves.

Keywords

• nato, deep, south caucasus, intellectual interoperability, pme