They are examined individually in NATO 2000.

A PERIOD OF QUESTIONING
EVOLUTION OF NATO's STRATEGY
THE NAC-C: NATO's FIRST FORMAL OUTREACH TO THE EAST
THE EURO-ATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL
THE PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE (PfP) PROGRAMME
NATO ENLARGEMENT AND THE OPEN DOOR
NATO AND RUSSIA: A NEW RELATIONSHIP
NATO's PARTNERSHIP WITH UKRAINE
NATO's MEDITERRANEAN DIALOGUE
NATO AND THE OSCE
NATO's CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
NATO's ROLE IN KOSOVO
THE EUROPEAN SECURITY AND DEFENCE IDENTITY
ADAPTING THE ALLIANE TO NEW MILITARY TASKS
THE DEFENCE CAPABILITIES INITIATIVE
NATO AND ARMS CONTROL
CIVIL EMERGENCIES AND DISASTER RESPONSE
THE NATO SCIENCE PROGRAMME
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE WASHINGTON SUMMIT
NATO - AN OVERVIEW

A PERIOD OF QUESTIONING

When the Berlin wall came down in November 1989, and democratic revolutions spread across Central Europe, many wondered if NATO, too, should be swept away by the breathtaking winds of change. NATO member countries had already been working hard to improve security relations in Europe, largely through negotiating arms control and confidence-building measures with the Soviet Union and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Now, the authoritarian regimes that had held the Warsaw Pact together were disappearing and the Warsaw Pact itself was on its way out. The Bonn government of the Federal Republic and the post-communist East German authorities began negotiating the unification of Germany under the watchful eyes of the Soviet Union, the United States, France and the United Kingdom - the four powers responsible for the administration of Germany in the immediate post-war years, and for the administration of the divided city of Berlin from 1945 to 1989. A new Europe was on the horizon.

In this heady atmosphere, many analysts and officials questioned what NATO’s place might be in a world in which the Warsaw Pact had crumbled, the Soviet Union was withdrawing its forces from Eastern Europe and new leaders of former Warsaw Pact nations were already speculating out loud about joining NATO. In February 1990, Hungarian Foreign Minister Guyla Horn said he could imagine that, in a few years, Hungary could become a member of NATO.

Nine years later his words became reality. Hungary, along with the Czech Republic and Poland, acceded to the NATO Treaty, individual partnerships had been set up between NATO and many other countries including all the members of the former Warsaw Pact. A multilateral forum - known as the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council - had also been established for developing cooperation between the Partner countries and the 19 NATO countries. The story of how these developments came about is a fascinating one - but we are jumping ahead. Back to the beginning of the decade.

Early in 1990, a variety of different concepts for the future organisation of European security competed for official and public approval. Few of them envisaged NATO membership for former member countries of the Warsaw Pact. Some experts speculated that it might be best to keep the Warsaw Pact in business in order to facilitate the organisation of Europe’s security. Others argued that NATO had outlived its usefulness because there was no longer any direct military threat.