This chapter examines the development of the defence policies of Greece, Cyprus, and Albania. Worried about Turkey’s pressure and perceived revisionist goals mainly in the Aegean Sea, Greece has maintained powerful armed forces since the end of the cold war. Greek–Turkish tension has been eased, while Greece has reorganized the Hellenic Armed Forces and contributes a NATO Rapid Deployable Corps (the NRDC-GR), but it has significantly reduced its military budget. Along with Cyprus, which always seeks to hold a minimal balance of forces in the divided island, it faces additional challenges emanating from endemic instability in the wider region. A recent development of great significance was the establishment of a Greek–Cypriot–Israeli political and military cooperation. As for Albania, during the 1990s its small military apparatus virtually collapsed, but since the early 2000s the country has eventually opted for NATO membership (officially joining the alliance in 2009), and the Albanian Armed Forces has launched an ambitious modernization programme.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.