21.01.11
Towards a NATO à la Carte?
Assessing the alliance’s adaptation to new tasks and changing relationships
NUPI-rapport | Oslo, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) | 30 sider
This report discusses whether NATO is about to become a security organization à la carte
, engaging in security tasks on a case-by-case basis and alternately serving the interests of different member states, constellations and external partners. The authors observe that both in terms of tasks and relations, NATO has gone through changes in rhetoric and action that alters its traditional role.
>> Summary
The adoption of NATO’s new strategic concept marks the beginning of a new era for the alliance. The new concept, and the debates leading up to it, reflects different positions and practices among member states both concerning what NATO’s key tasks should be and how relational structures inside and outside the alliance should be organised. Against this backdrop, this policy paper examines the timely question of whether NATO is developing into a security organisation ”à la carte”, engaging in security tasks on a case-by-case basis and alternately serving the interests of different member states, constellations and external partners. We observe that both in terms of tasks and relationships, NATO and its member states are faced with challenges that in the long run could lead to increased internal fragmentation as well as à la carte solutions. First, when it comes to tasks, the debate on whether NATO should return to its traditional responsibilities and core areas or focus more on its evolving global role is likely to continue. Second, when it comes to relationships, cluster formations, bilateralism and ad hoc coalitions of the willing challenge the unity within NATO. At the same time, significant external partners, among them Russia, often challenge it from the outside. Actors like the EU and the United States, who operate partly within and partly outside NATO, complicate relational structures further. For Norway, an increased tendency of à la carte solutions in NATO could raise challenges. Above all, Norway’s geopolitical location and status as a non-EU member make the country particularly reliant on a well-functioning and unified NATO, committed to its traditional defence tasks as formulated in NATO’s Article 5.
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