This book analyses the evolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its policies from the Cold War until today. NATO’s future cannot be fully understood without analysing its past: the origins of its structure and goals, and their transformation over time. By exploring NATO’s geopolitical and military role at crucial points throughout history, this edited volume considers the challenges and threats which have faced the alliance, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. It covers highly-debated and unresolved issues such as budgetary burden-sharing and the military transatlantic gap, the enlargement process, and the role of Asia in influencing NATO’s policies. Combining a historical approach with international perspectives, this book is an interdisciplinary read that will appeal to scholars of diplomatic history and international relations.
Chapters 1 and 2 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Author(s): Massimo de Leonardis
Series: Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 279
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Praise for NATO in the Post-Cold War Era
Contents
Notes on Contributors
1 Introduction: NATO in Its Seventh Decade—A Reappraisal
History’s Most Successful Alliance Needs Better Publicity
NATO Evolution During the Cold War
A Flexible Treaty
NATO Operations After the Cold War
Bibliography
2 The Historical Roots of the Atlantic Alliance Between Values and Interests
The Short Term Path to the Atlantic Pact
The United States: ‘Necessary but Undesirable’
Failed Efforts to Create an ‘Atlantic Community’: The Debate on Art. 2 in the 1950s
Conclusion: Increasingly Diverging Perspectives After the Cold War, but Still Very Close
Bibliography
3 A Troublesome Relationship: The US Grand Strategy and NATO
The Cold War: An Age of Consensus?
From 11/9 to 9/11: The Legacy of a ‘Lost’ Decade?
The Age of Disenchantment: 9/11 to 11/9
The US ‘Pivot to Asia’: Another Challenge to the Atlantic Alliance?
Concluding Remarks
Bibliography
4 Russia-NATO-US: From Detente to Impossible Cooperation
Bibliography
5 The Anglo-American Special Relationship and NATO: The Past and the Present as Indicators of What Might Come Next?
Introduction
The Most Equal
SACLANT and Anglo-American Relations
The SNF Crisis and Anglo-American Relations
Post-Cold War Relations
Conclusions
Bibliography
6 The Role of NATO in European Integration
Introduction
Automatism and Discrimination: European Defence Before the North Atlantic Treaty: 1947–1949
The Conditioned De-discrimination: Germany, the Failure of the EDC, and the Creation of the WEU (1950–1954)
The Pleven Plan and the European Defence Community (EDC)
The Western European Union (WEU) and West German Rearmament Within NATO
NATO and European Security Cooperation at the Cold War’s End: From German Unity to Maastricht (1986–1992)
NATO and European Defence After Brexit
Conclusions
References
7 The Origins of the Post-Cold War NATO Enlargement: Stability Projection and Factor of Crisis
The US Decision to Enlarge NATO
The Russian Thorn
Inter-Allied Negotiations
Conclusion: The Seeds of Today’s Conflict
Bibliography
8 NATO’s Partnerships in the Mediterranean and the Greater Middle East
Introduction
NATO Med Dialogue
The Expansion of Med Dialogue
The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative
The New Strategic Concept and the Problematic Cooperation with the Med and the Greater Middle East
NATO and the Arab Revolutions
The Fight Against ISIS. The Embraced NATO Regional Order for the Med and the Greater Middle East Collapses
New Actors in the Med and the Greater Middle East and the Reconfiguration of the Partnerships
Bibliography
9 NATO and the Impact of the Long War in Afghanistan: Avoiding a Wrong Memory About ISAF
The Long War in Afghanistan and the Narrative of Failure
NATO as the Late Comer in Kabul
Peacekeeping and State-Building During War: NATO-ISAF Alongside Enduring Freedom
From Peacekeeping to Counterterrorism: ISAF’s Strategic and Tactical Adjustments During the Mission
Conclusion: Avoiding a Wrong Memory
Bibliography
10 NATO from the Balkans to Libya: Dynamics and Renewal of a Wilsonian Alliance
The Atlantic Alliance Beyond Neorealism
From Bosnia to NATO’s Enlargement
NATO at War: The Limits of Multilateralism
Conclusion
Bibliography
11 NATO and the Fight Against International Terrorism
Introduction
Conceptual Analysis
NATO’s Response to Terrorism
An Evolving Counter-Terrorism Framework
Constraints and Shortfalls of NATO’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy
Political Divergences
Better Cooperation with Other Organisations
What Role for NATO?
More and Deeper Partnership
Intelligence Sharing
Optimising Resources
Conclusion
Bibliography
12 How Strong Is NATO’s Arm: Commands, Cash, Capabilities and Contributions
Introduction
The Shifts of the Alliance’s Command Structure
The Transformation of NATO Commands Until 2014
The Post-2014 Re-adaptation
The Issue of Allies’ Defence Spending
Military Budgets Trends Until 2014
The 2014 Defence Spending Pledge and the Transatlantic Burden Sharing
Comparing Defence Spending in NATO and Russia
Capabilities and Contributions to Collective Defence and Deterrence
The Role of NATO Defence Planning Process
The NATO Force Structure and the Eastern Flank
Deterrence Through Tripwire, Defence Via Reinforcements
Bibliography
13 Conclusion: NATO Between Mere Survival and Strategic Relaunching
Bibliography
Index of Names
