NATO

I

Introduction

NATO (NATO), also known as Organisation du Traite de l’Atlantique Nord (OTAN), regional defence alliance, formed under Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 4, 1949. The original signatories were Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. Greece and Turkey were admitted to the alliance in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982. NATO’s original purpose was to enhance the stability, well-being, and freedom of its members by means of a system of collective security. In 1990 the newly unified Germany replaced West Germany as a NATO member. In March 1999 the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland formally joined NATO, marking the first admission of former Communist states of the old Soviet bloc to NATO, and in early 2004 Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia also achieved full membership. How far NATO should further expand into former Soviet-controlled areas remains a controversial question, as is what its long-term relationship to Russia should be. Another debate in NATO in the aftermath of the Cold War concerns to what extent it should convert itself from a purely defensive arrangement for its members’ own territory into both a peacekeeping and anti-terrorism organization prepared to intervene elsewhere, as it did in the former Yugoslavia.

II

Background

In the years after World War II, many Western leaders saw the policies of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as threatening the stability and peace of Europe. The forcible installation of Communist governments throughout Eastern Europe, territorial expansion by the USSR, and its support of guerrilla war in Greece and regional separatism in Iran, appeared to many as the first steps in new aggression that might lead to another world war. Subsequent events, including the deterioration of the situation in Greece and the near collapse of war-devastated European economies during the winter of 1946-1947, led the United States to two important initiatives: the European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan, which the Eastern Europeans rejected under Soviet compulsion; and the Truman Doctrine. This, although directed at the situation in Greece and Turkey, contained a generalized pledge to help any nation defending its freedom and democracy. Led by the United Kingdom and its foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, Western European countries hastened to seize this opportunity and formed the Western Union defensive alliance by the Brussels Treaty of 1948. This willingness to stand together and the Soviet-instigated Blockade of Berlin, which began in March 1948, stimulated negotiations that culminated in the North Atlantic Treaty of Washington in April 1949.

III

Treaty Provisions

The treaty consists of a preamble and 14 articles. The preamble states its purpose: to promote the common values of its members and to “unite their efforts for collective defence”. Article 1 calls for peaceful resolution of disputes. Article 2 pledges the parties to economic and political cooperation. Article 3 calls for development of the capacity for defence. Article 4 provides for joint consultations when a member is threatened. Article 5 promises mutual assistance, possibly but not necessarily including the use of the members’ armed forces for “collective self-defence”. This conditional language pays deference to the constitutional prerogatives of the US Congress in particular. Article 6 defines the areas covered by the treaty. Article 7 affirms the precedence of members’ obligations under the United Nations Charter. Article 8 safeguards against conflict with any other treaties of the signatories. Article 9 creates a council to oversee implementation of the treaty. Article 10 describes admission procedures for other nations. Article 11 states the ratification procedure. Article 12 allows for reconsideration of the treaty. Article 13 outlines withdrawal procedures. Article 14 calls for the deposition of the official copies of the treaty in the United States Archives.

IV

Structure

The highest authority within NATO is the North Atlantic Council, which is composed of ministers who are represented in permanent session by ambassadors, and is chaired by a secretary-general. The council is responsible for general policy, budgetary outlines, and administrative actions. Subordinate to the council are the Secretariat, various temporary committees, and the Military Committee. The secretary-general runs the Secretariat, which handles all the non-military functions of the alliance. The temporary committees deal with specific assignments of the council. The Military Committee consists of the chiefs of staff of the various armed forces; it meets twice a year. Between such meetings, the Military Committee, in permanent session with representatives of the members, defines military policies. Below the Military Committee are the various geographical commands. These have been streamlined since the Cold War, the main ones surviving being the Supreme Commander Europe (SACEUR), the Supreme Commander Atlantic (SACLANT), and two regional commanders, for Northern and Southern Europe. In the late 1990s the Deputy SACEUR, who is always European, assumed a new role as the potential commander of operations in which the United States might not take part, responding to efforts by the European Union to develop a “defence identity”.