NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), regional defence alliance, formed under Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 4, 1949. The original signatories were Belgium, Britain, 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 purpose is 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.

Background

In the years after World War II (1939-1945), many Western leaders saw the policies of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as threatening the stability and peace in Europe. The forcible installation of Communist governments throughout Eastern Europe, territorial demands by the USSR (the former Soviet Union), and their support of guerrilla war in Greece and regional separatism in Iran appeared to many as the first steps of World War III. Such events prompted the signing of the Dunkirk Treaty in 1947 between Britain and France, pledging common defence against aggression. Subsequent events, including the rejection by Eastern European nations of the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) and the creation of Cominform, a European Communist organization in 1947, led to the Brussels Treaty signed by most Western European countries in 1948. Among the goals of that pact was the collective defence of its members. The Berlin blockade that began in March 1948 led to negotiations between Western Europe, Canada, and the United States that resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty.

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 the use of the members' armed forces for "collective self-defence". 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 US Archives.

Structure

The highest authority within NATO is the North Atlantic Council, composed of permanent delegates from all members, headed by a secretary-general. It 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: Allied Command Europe, Allied Command Atlantic, Allied Command Channel, and the Regional Planning Group (for North America). These commands are in charge of deploying armed forces in their areas.

History

Until 1950 NATO consisted primarily of a pledge by the United States to aid its members under the terms of Article 5 of the treaty. There was no effective machinery, however, for implementation of this pledge. The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 convinced the allies that the Soviets might act against a divided Germany. The result was not only the creation of a military command system, but also the expansion of the organization. In 1952 Greece and Turkey joined the alliance, and in 1955 West Germany was accepted under a complicated arrangement whereby Germany would not be allowed to manufacture nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. In its first decade NATO was mainly a military organization dominated by US power, which provided a security blanket for the revival of Europe's economy and polity.

Soviet achievement of parity in nuclear weaponry with the West resulted in concern among Europeans that the United States would not honour its pledge.

The 1960s were characterized by two consequent developments in NATO: the withdrawal of France, under President Charles de Gaulle, from the organization but not from the alliance in 1966; and the rising influence of the smaller nations, which sought to use NATO as an instrument of détente as well as defence. America's involvement in Vietnam further diminished US authority and contributed to dissatisfaction within NATO. Although the 1970s began with some agreements as a result of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I), the decade ended in disillusionment as the Soviets rapidly built up their military arsenal. NATO resolved this problem with the dual-track programme of 1979, in which new defence efforts were accompanied by new efforts at détente. The 1980s opened with a deepening crisis between the East and West. In 1983 the USSR failed to prevent the deployment of intermediate-range ballistic missiles, designed to cope with Soviet weapons targeted on European cities. This issue became irrelevant, however, after the signing of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty in 1987 (see Arms Control, International). The INF treaty presaged the breakdown of the Warsaw Pact. The decade ended with the apparent success of NATO in surmounting the challenge of the Communist bloc.

The end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the USSR brought new challenges for NATO. Some former Warsaw Pact states, particularly Poland, were anxious to join NATO as a safeguard against any future Russian aggression. Russia itself, meanwhile, opposed any extension of NATO into Central and Eastern Europe, taking the position that NATO remained an anti-Russian alliance. The Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian War of 1991-1995 was a particularly drastic test of NATO in the post-Cold War world: acting outside the territory of member states for the first time, under United Nations auspices, NATO forces were criticized by Russia for being too active in the former Yugoslavia, and by others for not being active enough. NATO attacks on Bosnian Serb positions around Sarajevo in September 1995 were instrumental in ending hostilities, while the Implementation Force (I-For) charged with policing the peace provisions agreed in the Dayton accord in November 1995 was drawn from NATO.

Achievements

Over the years the existence of NATO has led to closer ties between its members and to a growing community of interests. The treaty itself has provided a model for other collective security agreements. It is possible that NATO dissuaded the USSR from attempting direct assault on Western Europe.

On the other hand, the rearmament of West Germany and its admission to the alliance were the apparent causes of the establishment of the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

In the early 1990s, the political transformation of the USSR and Eastern Europe, including the absorption of East Germany into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, drastically reduced the military threat to NATO. Nevertheless, many Western observers see NATO in the post-Cold War era as an umbrella of security in a Europe buffeted by the nationalist passions unleashed in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. The North Atlantic Cooperation Council, established in November, 1991, provides a forum for consultations between NATO members, East European nations, and the former Soviet republics. In 1993 NATO members endorsed a proposal to offer former Warsaw Pact members limited associations with NATO. Under the plan, known as Partnership for Peace, non-members could be invited to participate in information sharing, joint exercises, and peacekeeping operations. In May 1997 the leaders of Russia and the 16 countries in NATO signed an agreement intended to improve their relations and ease NATO's eastward expansion.