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Development of the Atlantic Alliance

NATO's areas of operation have changed over the last decades. Originally created as an alliance for the territorial defence of Western Europe, the Atlantic Alliance is now operating on an increasingly global basis. Michael Rühle traces its development.

On 28 and 29 November 2006, the heads of state and governments of NATO member-states will be attending a summit in Riga, the capital of Latvia. This, the Prague Summit (2002) and the Istanbul Summit (2004) are the first three such meetings since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and demonstrate NATO's progression from a Eurocentric alliance to becoming an active instrument for an increasingly global transatlantic security agenda.

Which direction is NATO heading?
Photo: AP

The spectrum of topics on the summit's agenda is broad, ranging from the further expansion of military presence in Afghanistan to forging new partnerships with countries in the Asian-Pacific region. Additionally, the NATO Response Force is scheduled to reach full operational readiness soon. Among the candidate states are the Western Balkans, as well as Ukraine and Georgia; they are waiting for nothing less than a political signal regarding the future of NATO enlargement. The reform of the planning and financing of NATO-led operations is expected to gain new momentum. Finally, summit participants are likely to debate the question of how the Alliance can implement its training initiative project for the Middle East in the light of new unrest in the region.

Because of this long agenda without any clear highlights, the Riga summit might find it difficult to attract public interest. However, there is certainly a good reason for Riga's introspective agenda, which focuses on military-operational issues and must do without the traditional participants from partner countries. NATO's recent past has been marked by a rapid increase in operational responsibilities. Today, tasks range from military operations in Afghanistan and peacekeeping in Kosovo to maritime anti-terror operations around the Mediterranean and humanitarian aid evacuation of earthquake victims in Pakistan. Of course, there are still some genuinely European tasks on the agenda, such as the progress of NATO's enlargement process. However, in view of the difficult security situation in Afghanistan, the still uncertain future of Kosovo, and new challenges for NATO as a humanitarian service provider, operational issues remain on the forefront.

However, Riga is not to be seen as an isolated event. The next summit has already been scheduled for the spring of 2008 near the end of US President Bush's term. It will probably deal with issues that are more interesting to the general public, such as new invitations to join NATO. The 60th anniversary of the founding of the Alliance in 2009 will present a new opportunity for the heads of state and governments to come together. The anniversary summit will most likely attract the public's attention. German Chancellor Merkel has already demanded a new strategic concept to be presented then which shall replace the 1999 concept currently in force.[1]

This series of NATO summits clearly shows that the Alliance has already come a long way, but still has quite a way ahead of it. What might appear like a simple sequence of meetings of high-ranking politicians and military personnel represents nothing less than the best opportunity for a reform of NATO since its establishment in April 1949. Originally intended as an alliance to defend the territory of Western Europe, it has become an active instrument for pursuing common transatlantic security interests without geographical limitations.

The following is exclusively the personal opinion of the author.

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