NATO: the challenges ahead

Abstract

This article discusses how NATO is transforming to address the new security situation in Europe in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the new challenges opposed by terrorist and jihadist groups in North Africa and the Middle East. It explores the issues associated with NATO’s return to a primary collective defence role in Eastern Europe and the implementation of NATO’s Readiness Action Plan. The article also comments on how NATO can address, with its limited defence budget and constrained military forces, threats coming from the East and the South simultaneously. The answer is to use NATO’s budgets more efficiently and to produce more multi-national capabilities and role specialization using such concepts as Smart Defence, Pooling and Sharing and the Framework Nations concept whereby the larger Allies agree to lead clusters of medium sized and smaller Allies to develop specific capabilities. Given that these capabilities are also being looked at at the same time by the EU, the article also comments on how NATO and the EU can cooperate on the basis of comparative advantage and greater synergy.