NATO's evolving purposes and the next Strategic Concept

Abstract

This article examines how NATO’s purposes have changed since the end of the Cold War. The current Strategic Concept dates from 1999 and the allies intend to approve a new one at the NATO summit to be convened in Portugal in late 2010. The most fundamental issue in the new Strategic Concept will be the definition of the alliance’s essential purposes, including the core function of collective defence. Although the alliance has assumed many new functions since the early 1990s, the fundamental imperative of collective defence has persisted. However, owing in part to new threats and technologies, new types of collective defence and security challenges are at hand. The allies will have to muster political will and vision if they are to meet them effectively...