NATO: What It Is, Objectives, Features, Members And Characteristics
We explain what the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and member countries are. What’s more. What are its characteristics and objectives?
What is NATO?
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also known as the Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or North Atlantic Alliance, is a military-type intergovernmental alliance. It is based on the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty or Washington Treaty, signed in 1949.
It consists of a collective defense commitment. All member countries agree to act as a bloc in the event that one of them suffers military aggression by a foreign nation. Although his interventions are made in the name of world peace, his international role has been widely questioned.
This organization emerged in the context of the Cold War and was initially little more than a political alliance. However, it gained strength as its member countries became the world’s leading capitalist powers.
NATO currently has 29 member countries, 21 collaborating countries within the Partnership for Peace program, and another fifteen in international dialogue programs. The combined military spending of its member countries in 2017 was 52% of total world spending.
NATO history
NATO was created with the signing of the Washington Treaty on April 4, 1949
NATO was created in 1949, right after the Second World War. It was motivated by the concern of Western powers over the expansion of the Soviet Union ‘s area of global influence.
That is why they sought to create an organization that would allow the extension of the military reciprocity treaties of the Western European Union. Thus, NATO was officially created with the signing of the Washington Treaty on April 4, 1949.
Since its foundation, various Western nations began to join, seeking the protection of Western powers. Even the USSR proposed to join NATO, with the aim of maintaining peace in Europe, but was rejected by the member countries. The consequence was the creation of the Warsaw Pact.
NATO founding countries
The countries that initially signed the North Atlantic Treaty were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the United States, France , Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
NATO objectives
The primary objective of this organization is to guarantee the freedom and security of its member states , through a joint action of political, diplomatic and military means. This is expressed in the following objectives:
- Defend the stability of the Euro-Atlantic area.
- Serve as a forum for consultation on international security issues.
- Guarantee the military protection of the members against any threat.
- Contribute to conflict management and avoid international crises.
- Promote a culture of dialogue and cooperation between the countries of the Euro-Atlantic area.
NATO functions
Since it is a cooperation agreement, NATO has very few forces of its own, so it depends on the work of each of the member countries. However, NATO plays an important role in the direction and correlation of the forces of the member countries.
Among its functions are pointing out common enemies or even activating the reciprocity clause to ask its allies for a defensive retaliation against an external attacker. The latter has only happened once in history, and that was the United States in the 2001 war in Afghanistan.
NATO structure
NATO has two structures, depending on its purposes:
political structure. It is made up of the North Atlantic Council, which meets once a week and represents the authority of NATO. However, the transcendental decisions are made in a meeting with the Heads of Government , Ministers of Defense or Foreign Ministers of the member countries. The leadership of this council is led by a Secretary General elected by the NATO Parliament, that is, its Parliamentary Assembly in charge of leading the body and coordinating its five committees:
