The evolution of NATO: the alliance's strategic concept and its predecessors, 1945-2000

Abstract

A review of European and transatlantic history since World War II suggest that the Cold War largely determined the foreign and security policies of Euro-Atlantic nations and of such international organizations as NATO. In the late 1980s, dramatic changes in Europe put an end to the Cold War deadlock and caused the transformation of NATO. NATO's orgins reside in the era of 1919-1948. Formed in 1948/49 as a collective defense institution, NATO's purposes, procedures and capabilities were adjusted to deter the Warsaw Pact threat. Since 1990 the organization appears to be the sole one still capable of dealing with current and future risks and threats of the transition processes. The thesis analyses NATO's path from confrontation to cooperation in view of NATO's evolution, beginning with NATO from its Cold War strategies, through the revolutionary changes due to the Alliance's New Strategic Concept (Rome, 1991), and ending in the present with the outcome of the Alliance's Strategic Concept (Washington, 1999). The thesis assesses NATO's potential for further inprovements and NATO's future role as an organization shaping the security environment in the Euro-Atlantic area.