To What Extent Is Nato A Thing

Of The Past. Essay, Research Paper

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO was set up in 1946 and, until 1990,

primarily concentrated on European defence against the Warsaw Pact countries.

However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has lost its principle

protagonist. So it must be asked, can there really be, as the US Secretary of State,

Madeleine Albright said, a new NATO for a new century . Indeed, she said, at the

Brookings Institution, that since the end of the Cold War Alliance leaders [have been]

confronted [with] a new set of questions. How would the Alliance hold together, now

that the adversary that had brought it together was gone. If it remained united, what

would it do. How should it change. How might the new NATO relate to the new

Europe. And what role would Russia play. 1. These are all valid questions when

attempting to evaluate the extent to which NATO is a thing of the past. Nato s

traditional role was that of containment of the Warsaw Pact countries and Western

European security. It was Ernst Bevin, the British foreign secretary who came up with

the idea of NATO (which has always principally been a military alliance), who said

that NATO would be the answer to the Communist threat by organising and

consolidating the ethical and spiritual forces of Western civilisation . If this is the case,

since the collapse of Communism, many would argue that NATO is no longer

necessary. It has achieved its purpose and its usefulness has been outlived. Indeed,

Kenneth Waltz, a prominent international relations scholar, said in 1990 that, NATO

is a disappearing thing. It is a question of how long it is going to remain as a

significant institution even though its name may linger on. 2. However since 1990,

NATO has expanded in size to include Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic,

adapted to pursue peace-keeping roles in Central and Eastern Europe and, most

recently, launched one of the largest aerial campaigns ever seen. Is this really the way

such an international organisation would die a somewhat quiet death .3

Since 1990, NATO has attempted to transform its Defence Posture through a new

strategic concept which includes a number of measures, including the establishment

of the North Atlantic Control Council (NACC), which has since been replaced by the

Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) and establishing the Partnership for Peace

(PfP) initiative, all of which are based on a broad approach to security in which

co-operation and dialogue with non-member countries would play a prominent part 4

The EAPC has expanded from 20 members in 1991 to 40 members in 1997 by opening

a dialogue with the Central and Eastern European countries, as well as the newly

emerging European states of the old Soviet Union. New structures and procedures

designed to advance the internal adaptation of NATO have also been introduced. The

European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) has been developed within NATO as

part of this process, as has the implementation of a concept known as Combined Joint

Task Forces (CJTFs), are also being pursued. The CJTF concept is designed to

ensure that the composition and multinational character of military forces can be

varied to suit whatever kind of crisis management or peacekeeping task needs to be

undertaken. In other ways, too, the Alliance has undergone fundamental change,

developing its relations with other organisations and reforming its military command

structure. NATO states that preparations for defence against a full-scale military

attack are no longer the focus of Alliance planning and that risks to NATO are more

likely to arise from instability, including ethnic rivalry or territorial disputes . This

means that the Alliance can move away from forward defence and flexible response

strategies and concentrate on maintaining adequate but much reduced defence

capability, a well-developed crisis-management capability, an enhanced dialogue with

other nations and a co-operative approach to security, including arms control.5 This is

shown in the official figures provided by NATO, that illustrate a decrease in NATO s

availible land forces by 35% between 1990 and 1995 and a cut in defence expenditures

by 22%.

The Alliance, which has always been principally a military alliance, a stance that was

enshrined by Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. However, since the end of the

Cold War, NATO has not only concentrated on transforming its Defence Posture, but

also begun to expand into new areas as diverse as environmental protection, air traffic

control over Europe, environmental protection, industrial and energy policy and

highway planning. In addition, NATO has also served as a forum for consultation

among member states on European and non-European political and security issues. An

example of the Alliances environmental projects can be that of a pilot study being

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