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of the North Atlantic Control Council (NACC), which has since been replaced by the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
carried out in Norway studying Cross-border Environmental Problems Emanating
from Defence-related Installations and Activities . The project focuses on some of the
most urgent problems associated with radioactive pollution, in particular that caused
by the dismantling of nuclear military vessels.
So NATO has not stood still. Over the years since its creation it has always had to
adapt to new circumstances and new tasks. From its early years with th
Greece, Turkey and then Germany, then later Spain and more recently, the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Poland also acceded to the Treaty. During its fifty years of life,
NATO has adapted its political and military strategy in the light of new political
circumstances and technological developments; responded to crises in East-West
relations; and introduced major initiatives in fields such as arms control and measures
to limit the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. However, it is the last
decade that has seen the most sweeping change in International Relations since the end
of World War II and the effect of these changes has been unprecedented. NATO has
responded by initiating an intensive programme of internal and external adaptation
which has included the revision of its strategy; the reduction of its military forces; the
transformation of the structure of its military commands; the introduction of measures
to promote co-operation and partnership with non-member countries throughout
Europe (all of which are discussed above); and the opening of its doors to new
members. Nato s expansion into Central and Eastern Europe has been one of the most
politically sensitive transformations NATO has made to evolve into a new NATO for
a new century . There are many that argue that involving old Eastern Block countries
may antagonise Russia and by doing so, rather than making the area stable,
membership could further destabilise Eastern Europe. At the time of the
announcement of the future membership of the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary
to NATO, George Kennan, the father of containment said in the New York Times
that:
[Expansionism] will inflame nationalistic, anti-Western, and militaristic tendencies in
Russian opinion, adversely affect the development of Russian democracy, restore the
atmosphere of the Cold War to East-West relations, and impel Russian foreign policy
in directions decidedly not to our liking. 6
Indeed, many argue that expansionism means that the alliance could find itself
entangled in border disputes and internal nationalistic conflicts, such as those in the
former Yugoslavia. Furthermore, would the general public protest if, for example,
soldiers were sent to defend Poland s border against Russia? However, others argue
by these countries become members of the Alliance, NATO is bringing stability, not
unstability to the region. Jackson suggests that NATO needs a new slogan . This new
definition of the alliance should meet the security needs of the former Soviet bloc
countries yet adds no additional risks and burdens for the old members 7.
This decade, NATO has seen its military capabilities, and moreover its new policies of
peace keeping put to the test for the first time. In 1995, a NATO led multinational
Implementation Force (IFOR), under a United Nations mandate, went into Bosnia to
implement the military aspects of the Bosnian Peace Agreement. This brought the
conflict to an end and enabled work to begin on laying the foundations for a lasting
peace in Bosnia. When IFOR had fulfilled its mandate, NATO led a Stabilisation Force
(SFOR) took over the task of building on IFOR’s achievements. Most recently, NATO
was involved in its first ever military conflict not under a UN mandate. The events of
Kosovo during 1999 prove that NATO has successfully adapted from a military
alliance designed primarily for European defence against Communist aggression to an
alliance that can capably pursue the maintenance of stability in Central and Eastern
Europe and the pursuit of humanitarian causes, such as the prevention of genocide,
refugee aid etc. Indeed, as the Balkans begin to become increasingly nationalistic, and
the Soviet Union is no longer in a position to keep them in check NATO has become
more and more useful as an organisation to maintain stability in the Balkans. Without
NATO, the Balkans is the tinder box that may spark European instability.
As it prepares itself for further adaptation as an expanded framework for continuing
partnership, both within the Alliance and with the countries of the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council, there can be little doubt that NATO will continue to evolve in
order to address future challenges. Despite the fact that the Cold War ended over a
decade ago, a military presence is still required in Europe, as proved by the events in
Kosovo. The scope of NATO evolution over the last ten years proves is so large that t
is safe to say that the NATO of 1989, as it operated and how it was seen, is a thing of
the past. However, now NATO is an essential organisation – a new NATO for a new
century .
Bibliography.
Powaski, Ronal E. Joining the March of Folly , Time Magazine, January 1998
Vol. 54, No. 1
Jackson, James O. When the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation began building up
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The official NATO web-page, http://www.NATO.int
US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, speaking at a National Issues Forum Q&A
Session at the Brookings Institution, A New NATO for a New Century , April 6 l999
McCalla, Robert B. Today’s NATO Can Take on New, Far-Reaching Roles,
Capital Times (Madison, WI), (1996): March 26, pp. 7A
Hyde-Price, Adrian, European Security beyond the Cold War Sage Publications
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