ABSTRACT The recent rise in the defence budgets among the NATO members reawakens the free-riding dilemma. This article provides an analysis of the defence spending of two new member states, the Czech Republic and Lithuania. Based on the free-riding theory, we explain why some of the new NATO members decide to increase their defence budgets (Lithuania), and others do not (Czech Republic). In contrast to the majority of works which focus either on the US as the biggest spender or on the “old” members of the Alliance, we explain under what circumstances some of the small European states who became new NATO members started to increase their defence budgets even though they do not have to, and the literature suggests that free-riding is easier. In the process, we identify three crucial factors that influence the decision-making process in this regard: the level of threat perception, economic situation, and the US pressure.

中文翻译：

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自由或不自由（乘车）：捷克共和国和立陶宛北约负担分担的比较分析

摘要 最近北约成员国国防预算的增加再次唤醒了搭便车的困境。本文分析了捷克共和国和立陶宛这两个新成员国的国防开支。基于搭便车理论，我们解释了为什么一些北约新成员决定增加国防预算（立陶宛），而另一些则没有（捷克共和国）。与大多数作品将美国作为最大的支出国或联盟的“老”成员作为对比，我们解释了一些成为新北约成员的欧洲小国在什么情况下开始增加国防预算即使他们不必这样做，而且文献表明搭便车更容易。在此过程中，我们确定了影响这方面决策过程的三个关键因素：