NATO's Importance in American Foreign Policy

NATO’s Importance in American Foreign Policy

            The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created out of the NATO treaty in 1949. This came after the coup in Czechoslovakia and the Brussels Treaty. Since its creation, it has played a significant role in American Foreign Policy throughout the Cold War and to this day.

            NATO is a collective security pact and had original goals to aid the countries that were part of it. Some original goals that the organization had was to defend Europe from the Soviet Union. In the articles, it gave leeway for non-military cooperation. It also called for military coordination and integration. And Article V describes collective security for these nations. The policy that the organization had was “massive retaliation” so that other countries or countries that were aligned together would be afraid to challenge NATO because they would be met with this “massive retaliation.” Another goal of the treaty was to stop militarism in Europe. After the rise of communism in Germany, these countries feared the presence of systems that could be detrimental to their nations. But militarism did not stop at communism and also included authoritarianism and fascism. Finally, another original goal of the treaty was European integration.

            NATO has a specific organization which allows it to operate. The North Atlantic Council has a 29 member state delegation that is governed by a Secretary General. This Council meets once a week to discuss and coordinate efforts. Since they meet this often, then it is clear how important this is to American foreign policy as we are still relying on it today.

            This organization played a significant role in the Cold War. During this time, it expanded to Greece, Turkey, West Germany, and then Spain. This expansion was met with the Warsaw Pact of USSR and other Easter European countries that also worked as a collective security pact.

            Now, NATO is still used and just as important. It has grown a great amount since its fruition. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary joined in 1999. Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania all joined in 2004. Followed by Croatia and Albania in 2009. And then the organization has partnerships outside of Europe which help with global diplomacy. As this was made in to protect countries from the USSR, Russia has not had a positive response to the organization. They detest the expansion of NATO. NATO has worked in peacekeeping, like they did with the Yugoslav Wars. It has also worked to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and used Article V to do so.

            NATO has played a significant role, as one has seen with the Cold War, and continues to play a significant part in American foreign policy.