NATO at 70

A Political Economy Perspective

Keith Hartley

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783030543945
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030543952
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: International Business
• Index: Business

NATO is facing a unique crisis questioning its existence and future.  This book provides a detailed in-depth economic and critical analysis of the issues.  It considers whether NATO has a future and what it might look like 70 years ahead.  NATO is undergoing a process of dramatic change, reorganising its functions, funding and strategic responsibilities to address growing regional and global threats. This book not only explores the contentiousness of economic and financial burden-sharing and the associated political and diplomatic stresses involved in the pursuit of common strategic objectives, but contributes to a further debate concerning the expanded scope and roles of the Alliance in the 21^st century.  This book combines NATO's political controversies, complexities and conflicts with a treatment of the underlying theoretical economic frameworks.

This book is essential reading for students in military staff colleges, university International Relations and Strategic Affairs Departments, but also to those working in government defence establishments, independent think tanks and political and economic institutions, generally.

© The Author(s) 2020

K. HartleyNATO at 70https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54395-2_1

Begin Abstract

1. NATO at 70: Achievements

Keith Hartley¹

(1)

Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of York, York, UK

Keith Hartley

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

The formation of NATO after World War II and the start of the Cold War. Organisation, management and its main agencies are described together with its military forces and strategies.

Keywords

OriginsMembershipCommon fundThreats

End Abstract

Introduction: An Era of Change

NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was created in April 1949 and celebrated its 70th birthday in April 2019. Originally, there were 12 Member States with membership increasing to 30 members by 2020. A 70-year period has seen many changes which are outlined in this chapter. The Cold War ended (1990), the Warsaw Pact was dissolved (1991) and its former members joined NATO which was an extraordinary series of events. More followed with NATO involved in military conflicts in Bosnia (1995), Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2003) and Libya (2011). Throughout, NATO has remained a supporter of democracy.

A long-running disagreement between the USA and its European Allies over burden-sharing became more topical following the election of President Donald Trump (2016) who raised critical questions about whether NATO was worth retaining. His criticisms focused on the US paying for NATO, that it is obsolete and that it is militarily strong but politically weak. These were not new US criticisms: previous US presidents and defense secretaries had made similar points. But, the 2016–2020 US criticisms were more serious. They coincided with changes in US foreign policy taken without consulting NATO and at a time when China had emerged as a new major world military power and the European Union was developing an independent defence and foreign policy. These events need to be placed in the context of the origins of NATO.

The Origins

By 1945, Europe had experienced two World Wars involving millions of deaths and injuries of military and civilian personnel and widespread destruction and damage of its cities, towns, villages and infrastructure. Peace in 1945 was against a background of what was perceived in the West to be a new and emerging threat in the form of the military and world power ambitions of the USSR. The Western view of the threat position before the creation of NATO involved Churchill’s 1946 ‘iron curtain’ speech, the Truman Doctrine (1947) and the Marshall Plan (1948). Churchill’s 1946 speech referred to an iron curtain not as a physical wall but to political, military and ideological barriers erected by the Soviet Union after 1945 to separate the USSR and its allies from general contact with the West. The Truman Doctrine outlined US foreign policy to counter Soviet expansion (e.g. in Greece and Turkey); and the Marshall Plan provided gifts of foreign aid to Europe (European Recovery Program) to revive the economies of 17 Western and Southern European countries. Within Europe, tensions rose with the Berlin blockade (June 1948–May 1949). Later in 1961, the Berlin Wall was built which was an actual wall through the middle of Berlin.

Effectively, the Cold War started in 1947 with fears that the communist USSR wished to take over the world. There were concerns in the West that Soviet domination in Eastern Europe might be permanent and would be extended. Tensions between the USA and USSR reflected ideological differences and there were disagreements over Germany. It was against this background that NATO was created in 1949 as a military alliance providing collective defence for its Member States with political objectives of freedom and peace.¹ Its Article 5 was distinctive where an attack on one Member State was deemed to be an attack on all members, thereby providing a defence shield against foreign aggression. In 1955, Article 5 was extended to West Germany.

Some of the major events in NATOs history are summarised in Table 1.1. Two events are worthy of emphasis. First, NATO membership has increased over time rising from the original 12 Member States in 1949 to 30 members in 2020. An arms control treaty was signed between NATO and the Warsaw Pact states in 1990 and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991. In 1999, three former Warsaw Pact members joined NATO. Second, NATO’s missions have changed from its deterrence mission during the Cold War to embrace new missions involving crisis management and conflict resolution (e.g. Bosnia; Kosovo; Afghanistan). A distinctive date was 2001 (9/11 terror attacks on the USA) when for the first time, NATO invoked Article 5 (although the USA chose not to involve NATO in the war against terror).

Table 1.1

Timeline

Date	Event
1949	Formation of NATO with 12 states (April) agreed under Washington Treaty also known as North Atlantic Treaty
1952	Greece and Turkey join
1955	West Germany joins
1966	France withdraws from NATO military structure
1982	Spain joins
1990	NATO and Warsaw Pact sign Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty German reunification and Berlin became a single city (October)
1991	START Treaty (2010–2021) reducing and limiting strategic offensive nuclear weapons signed by the USA and Soviet Union Warsaw Pact dissolved
1994	NATO offers former Warsaw Pact states limited association with Partnership for Peace programme (PfP)
1995	Campaign against Bosnia with air and ground forces and Implementation Force (Ifor)
1997	Ifor in Bosnia replaced with Stabilisation Force (Sfor)
1999	Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO Kosovo: start of NATO air strikes against Kosovo
2001	9/11 attacks against the USA. Article 5 invoked
2003	NATO control of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan: first major operation outside Europe Formation of Rapid Reaction Force for world-wide deployment (October)
2004	Seven nations join: Bulgaria; Estonia; Lithuania; Latvia; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia EU replaces NATO in Bosnia
2009	Albania and Croatia join
2010	Agree new NATO Strategic Concept based on collective defence (Article 5), crisis management and cooperative security
2011	NATO no fly zone for Libya
2017	Montenegro joins (June). Total of 29 Member States
2019	US withdraws from Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF: August)
2020	North Macedonia joins as 30th member

Since its formation in 1949, NATO has developed through five phases:

1. 1.
   The Cold War era from 1949 to 1991 where the focus was on defence against the USSR;
2. 2.
   The post-Cold War transformation of the 1990s with its focus on enlargement and out of area operations.
3. 3.
   Post-September 11th, 2001, following the terrorist attacks on the USA and a focus on crisis management and stabilising Afghanistan.
4. 4.
   2010 and a new Strategic Concept embracing collective defence, crisis management and co-operative security.
5. 5.
   Post-2014 with a renewed focus on deterring Russia.

Management of NATO

NATO has an established and tested management structure. This structure comprises the North Atlantic Council (NAC) which has governance authority and powers of decisions in NATO. There is an established NATO headquarters based in Brussels. Its Military Committee advises the NAC on military policy and strategy and comprises Member State’s Chiefs of Defence. Allied Command Operations (ACO) is responsible for NATO operations world-wide. It is headed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is responsible for the transformation and training of NATO forces and is headed by the Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation (SACT). There is a Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) which is NATO’s senior agency for nuclear matters.

NATO has a number of agencies, including the NATO Standardization Office (NSO, formerly the NATO Standardization Agency). This Office is responsible for standardization and interoperability between Member States, reflected in Standardization Agreements (STANAGS : there are over 1200 such agreements in NATO). A NATO Parliamentary Assembly is the consultative inter-parliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. In February 2018, it was decided to create two new Commands, namely, Joint Force Command for the Atlantic and a new support Command for logistics, reinforcement and military mobility. Also, a new Cyber Operations Centre was created at the military headquarters in SHAPE.

NATO Military Forces and the Infrastructure or Common Fund

NATO’s military forces comprise agreed voluntary contributions from its Member States. Also, NATO has Rapid Deployable Corps which are high readiness headquarters which can be quickly dispatched to lead NATO troops within or beyond the territory of its Member States. However, NATO does own some limited common military capabilities, such as AWACS early warning radar aircraft, strategic transport aircraft and an Alliance Ground Surveillance System (AGS).

The 16 NATO AWACS aircraft are based in Germany and funded by 16 Member States. The UK contributes ‘in-kind’ by providing its force of AWACS to ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. NATO at 70: Achievements
• 2. The Need for NATO?
• 3. Burden-Sharing
• 4. NATO: An Economics, Politics and Public Choice Analysis
• 5. NATO and Europe: Improving Efficiency
• 6. Future Challenges
• Back Matter