NATO’s Changing Mission

Abstract

The history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is one wrought with change. The changes were brought about not by a refocusing of mission, for that did not deviate, but rather by policies and the methodologies by which those policies were incorporated into strategy decisions. In those changes, however, a consistent pattern was observable. Notably the characterization of policy changes reflected the driving force of the United States (U.S.) in asserting its national policy and strategy concerns in relation to the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), and the U.S. treatment of these concerns through the vehicle of NATO. The birth of the organization itself marked a change in the American policy of economic aid and recovery of post-war Western Europe to that of massive rearmament and direct U.S. leadership in European security concerns. The deterministic intent of the parties to the North Atlantic Treaty as expressed in their desire to “live in peace with all peoples and all governments” and in their determination to “safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law”1 has, however, remained a consistent rallying cry of the organization since its inception. The underlying unity of purpose and the accepted moral probity of this common goal provided NATO a raison d’être and allowed the cry to be heard above the din of the frequently diametrically opposed views held by the U.S. and its allies throughout nearly 50 years of partnership.KeywordsUnited NationsEuropean Economic CommunityFlexible ResponseNorth Atlantic Treaty OrganizationEuropean SecurityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.