North Atlantic Treaty Organization

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Military association of major Western European and North American states set up under the North Atlantic Treaty of 4 April 1949. The original signatories were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK, and the USA. Greece and Turkey were admitted to NATO in 1952, West Germany in 1955, Spain in 1982, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in 1999, and Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, and the Slovak Republic in 2004. NATO has been the basis of the defence of the Western world since 1949. During the Cold War (1945–89), NATO stood in opposition to the perceived threat of communist Eastern Europe, led by the USSR and later allied under the military Warsaw Pact (1955–91). Having outlasted the Warsaw Pact, NATO has increasingly redefined itself as an agent of international peace-keeping and enforcement.

Institutional structure
NATO's chief body is the Council of Foreign Ministers (who have representatives in permanent session). There is an international secretariat in Brussels, Belgium, and also a Military Committee consisting of the Chiefs of Staff. The military headquarters SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe) is in Chièvres, near Mons, Belgium. In August 1999, George Robertson, then the UK defence secretary, was elected secretary general of NATO, replacing Javier Solana.

Both the Supreme Allied Commanders (Europe and Atlantic) are from the USA, but there is also an Allied Commander, Channel (a British admiral). In 1960 a permanent multinational Allied Mobile Force (AMF) was established with headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, to move immediately to any NATO country under threat of attack. In May 1991, a meeting of NATO defence ministers endorsed the creation of a UK-commanded, 100,000-strong ‘rapid-reaction corps’ as the core of a new, streamlined military structure, based on mobile, multinational units adaptable to post-Cold War contingencies. The new force was to be used solely inside NATO territory, unless otherwise agreed by all members of the alliance. In 1992 it was agreed that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would in future authorize all NATO's military responses within Europe.

The Cold War
NATO was formed at the start of the Cold War, at a time when the capitalist nations of the West were fearful of the potential for a communist Soviet invasion of Western Europe following the Berlin blockade (1948–49) by Soviet forces. The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin appeared to harbour expansionist ambitions and to be intent on forcing his rule on to the whole of Europe, not just the eastern portion that the Soviets had conquered in World War II. In response to the establishment of NATO, Stalin set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955 as the defensive alliance of the communist Eastern bloc nations.

Throughout the Cold War, NATO had at its disposal the combined military force of all its members, including the nuclear weapons of the USA, the UK, and France. But throughout this time, not a shot was fired in war. This fact is viewed as a great success by NATO's supporters, as it indicates that NATO acted as a strong deterrent to the perceived ambitions of the USSR in Europe.

NATO has encountered numerous problems since its inception over such issues as the dominant position of the USA, the presence in Europe of US nuclear weapons, burden sharing, and standardization of weapons.

After the Cold War
The collapse of communism in eastern Europe from 1989 prompted the most radical review of NATO's policy and defence strategy since its inception in 1949. After the Warsaw Pact was disbanded in 1991, an adjunct to NATO, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC), was established. This included all the former Soviet republics, with the aim of building greater security in Europe.

At the 1994 Brussels summit a ‘partnership for peace’ (PFP) programme was formally launched, inviting former members of the Warsaw Pact and ex-Soviet republics to take part in a wide range of military cooperation arrangements, including training alongside NATO members and opening up defence plans. Romania was the first to join, followed by Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia the following year. By 1996 the partnership included 27 countries, comprising the 15 former Soviet republics, Austria, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Malta, Albania, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Finland, and Sweden.

In May 1997, a NATO–Russia security pact, called the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security, was signed in Paris by all 16 NATO heads of government and Russian president Yeltsin. The charter gave Russia an assurance that NATO had no intention of siting nuclear weapons or allowing major troop deployments on the territories of new Eastern European member states. It also created a Russian–NATO advisory council, which, however, would have no veto over NATO actions.

In July 1997, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, who were former members of the Warsaw Pact, were invited to join the alliance, which they did at the Madrid summit in March 1999. The decision meant NATO's territory expanded by 14%.

The Balkans
NATO engaged in its first major combat action August–September 1995 in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In December, a 60,000-strong, NATO-led ‘International Implementation Force’ was sent to police the Dayton peace settlement. The USA supplied one-third of the troops for the mission, termed ‘Joint Endeavour’. In June 1999, NATO mounted the biggest military operation in Europe since World War II, when its forces took over the Serbian province of Kosovo to keep the peace in the region.

The stars are said to represent Syria and Iraq. Red, white, black, and green are the pan-Arab colours. Effective date: 29 March 1980. >>