Not your father's NATO

Last Updated: 2004-04-01 10:34:15

March 31, 2004 -- A wimpy, eleven-syllable organization with longhaired troops and a Madison Avenue logo has proved more resilient than it seemed. The authoritarian Warsaw Pact crumbled and was swept into history’s dustbin, while the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has expanded its membership and mission.

Remember the Warsaw Pact? What a cool name, “pact”. Nobody has pacts anymore. The western world prefers multisyllabic constructs like “coalition” and “organization”. Lots of room for bureaucracy and politics in a multisyllabic outfit. But what could be more solid than a pact? Surely not some wimpy, eleven-syllable organization with longhaired troops and a Madison Avenue logo.

Well, turns out those multisyllabic bureaucracies are more resilient than they seem. The authoritarian Warsaw Pact crumbled and was swept into history’s dustbin, while the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has expanded its membership and mission. Pact, schmact! Looks like acronyms come out on top.

The transformation of NATO didn’t happen overnight, however, and for several years in the 1990s it looked like the alliance had lost its way and was headed towards stodgy irrelevance. There was much debate and consternation over NATO’s post-Cold War role, or if it even had a role. Formed under U.S. leadership in 1949 to counter the looming military threat the Soviet bloc posed to Western Europe, the quintessential free-world alliance didn’t seem so essential after the Soviet Union evaporated. What’s an alliance to do after its adversaries go away?

Two things, actually. First, figure out a way to co-opt your old adversaries. Second, find some new adversaries.

In that first area, NATO has been amazingly successful. On Monday, NATO announced the accession of 7 new members--all of which used to be communist countries. Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia were once Warsaw Pact members, while Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were actually part of the USSR itself. These new members join Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which became NATO members in 1999.

Though largely underappreciated, this is a geopolitical shift of monumental proportions. Since the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, NATO has expanded eastward (preceded by free enterprise, economic reform, and democracy) to include all the former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe and now some former Soviet Republics.

In finding new adversaries--by which I really mean finding valid missions--NATO has had mixed success. Of course there were the Serbs and their aggressive aims in the Balkans, which kept NATO busy on peacekeeping and peacemaking missions in Bosnia, then in Kosovo. But containing a tinhorn dictator like Milosevic can’t really provide the raison ‘de etre for a grand, multi-spectral alliance.

Working against instability and terrorism in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa seems to fit the bill. In the old NATO, it was inconceivable to think that military units under NATO command might be deployed out of Europe for actual operations. In the new NATO, it’s becoming the central mission. European governments, and their NATO representatives, realize that the more trouble brews out-of-area, the more likely the trouble will come home to roost.

Afghanistan is NATO’s first major out-of-area operation. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (how’s that for multisyllabic?), or ISAF, has 6,500 troops from 35 NATO and non-NATO nations. ISAF’s main objective is to promote stability and security in the war-torn country, and mainly leaves the Taliban and al-Qaida hunting to the U.S. forces. However, ISAF troops have been in clashes and suffered casualties there. In fact, German soldiers, who make up the core of the ISAF, have seen their first combat outside Europe since WWII.

And it’s likely there will be more NATO operations in strange places. The possibility of NATO taking on large chunks of the security mission in Iraq is being actively discussed--with U.S. support. There have even been suggestions that a NATO presence in Israel might be the only way to enforce a peace plan there. No, it’s sure not your father’s NATO anymore.

Note: The 26 NATO member states are now Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

T.T.