North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

• Context (IE): NATO completed 75 years of formation.

History of NATO

• Founded on April 4, 1949.
• 12 founding members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• Formed by the signing of the Washington Treaty, which is based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, “which reaffirms the right of individual or collective defence.”
• Article 5 of Washington Treaty explicitly aims to counter Soviet Union’s influence in Eastern Europe.
• Direct Military interventions are not a must, dependent as individual member deems fit.
• The only time the article has been invoked so far was following the 9/11 attacks on the US.
• In the aftermath of it, NATO forces were sent to Afghanistan and deployed for nearly 20 years.

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NATO in today’s world

• Expanded membership: Maximum in history (32 members) Making it bigger and stronger. Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024), who had historically neutral foreign policy, are now NATO members.
• Russia-Ukraine war: Insecurities of war led to a more united NATO.
• Relations with Russia have now “slipped to the level of direct confrontation“.
• Rise of China: A news relevance to counter it not only economically but ideologically and strategically.

Contemporary challenges being faced by NATO

• Disagreements on military spending: US supports a hike in spending while many members are not in support. Only 11 out of the 30 members (2014) spent over the agreed limit of 2 per cent of their GDP.
• Membership delay: Despite a liberal “open door” policy for membership, all members must ratify a new applicant’s entry. Yet individual members stall new entries, for example, Sweden and Finland case.
• Intra-block tensions: The French President commented on a lack of strategic coordination between European allies and the United States and Turkey.
• Ukraine-Russia war funding: The plan to create a five-year, $107 billion fund for Ukraine drew mixed reactions from members.

Learn more on NATO Plus.