The Evolving Role of NATO Since the End of the Cold War

This document explores the historical overview and organization of NATO, as well as the evolving role of NATO in peacekeeping and tension management since the end of the Cold War. It discusses NATO's involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Kosovo-Albania war, and the conflict in Afghanistan. The document also highlights NATO's role in promoting worldwide security through an overall coordinated effort.

“TO WHAT EXTENT HAS THE ROLE OF NATO CHANGED
SINCE THE END OF THE COLD WAR?”
By
PRECIOUS OGOCHUKWU AJIE
18431885
Supervised by
DAVID WALLER
JANUARY, 2019.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY
ORGANISATION (NATO).
Amidst the cold war, the Soviet Union utilized solid and dynamic powers to find
consolidating nations and shield them from any attack. The reason behind shielding
nearby nations from any attack was to tie standard inhabitants and accordingly induce
them to join the Soviet military. In the realm of the rapid expansion in extents of
Soviet military staff, other countries expected that the Soviet Union would grow
excessively and control or exploit other nations. While trying to check and curb the
development of the socialist Soviet Union, the United States and 11 other western
countries formed an organization called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) in 1949. The insight between the United States and its western accomplices
finished up on April 4, 1949, when the foreign ministers of 12 nations in North

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America and western European nations met in Washington D.C to conclude and sign
the North Atlantic Treaty. This was majorly a security settlement or treaty with article
5 stating that a military combat against any of the signatories would be viewed as a
strike against them all. The pioneer member states of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) included 12 countries; Belgium, Great Britain, Canada,
Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Luxembourg, Netherland, Portugal, and the
United States.
However, NATO was a fundamental and essential way for the United States, Canada
and western states to get together and cooperate. The unequivocal pioneers – nation-
states met with each other to settle on choices about security and invasion issues
against any check or joined ambushes. Therefore, NATO could be viewed as a
political initiative and enhancement that offered help to neighbor countries to help
them build up their infrastructures and settle money related issues. The NATO has an
arrangement of aggregate security whereby its member states consent to guard one
another from external social bodies. The central station or headquarters of NATO is in
Haren, Brussels, Belgium. However, allied command operations headquarters is in
Mons, Belgium. In 1952, Greece and Turkey joined NATO while West Germany and
Spain joined the organization in 1955 and 1982 independently. The confirmation of
West Germany into NATO and it’s ascension in 1955 triggered the upgrade of Warsaw
Pact in light of how the Soviet Union leaders were stressed over Germany’s military
power. The Warsaw Pact was a way to make a coordinated defense mechanism and
security in countries with the veritable goal of keeping them away from any potential
enemy strike.
The pioneer supreme allied commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was
consigned and appointed in 1950. Upon assuming the position of the commander,
United States was the central and spine of NATO since Eisenhower was from the
United States. Presently, countries that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) include Norway, United Kingdom, Albania, Belgium, Turkey,
Bulgaria, the United States, Canada, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany,
Netherlands, Slovakia, Greece, Hungary, Croatia, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Slovenia, Romania, Portugal and Spain. Each
member state has a representative or an ambassador. Furthermore, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) has a military that combines conventional members of
all the twenty nine nations.
THE EVOLVING ROLE OF NATO SINCE THE END OF THE COLD WAR.
The NATO was framed essentially to curtail the growth and expansion of the Soviet
Union in Europe and beyond. It’s primary mechanism was in fact for military and
political purposes. As indicated by Kaplan (2004:2), as the “American Marshall plan
gave a monetary guide to western European amid its recuperation after the World War
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II, the Soviet Union danger was likewise felt in European and influenced countries
required guaranteed security amid the modifying forms”. Along these lines, tensions
stayed high between NATO and the Soviet Union all through the time of cold war.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Germany was reunified and the Warsaw Pact
disintegrated, implying the best possible end of the cold war and the rapid decrease of
socialism in Europe. Likewise, a few previous Soviet Union republics, for example,
Albania, Montenegro, and Croatia among others considered NATO as a core of the
meeting and tension modifier on the planet. Morelli (2008) stated that change
proceeds for over 25 years, as shown in 2009 with the Albania and Croatia ascension
to NATO, and furthermore 2015 and 2016 with Montenegro's “invitee status” in
Alliance which enables its delegates to take an interest as eyewitnesses in joined
meetings. After the end of the cold war in 1991, a few specialists in the field of global
relations contended that NATO is a misuse of government assets and all things related
to it ought to be annulled.
Nonetheless, NATO has been associated with an extensive variety of exercises
including its major undertakings of defense mechanisms, minimizing of tensions and
collective security. For example, in 1995, NATO was involved in an air operation in
Bosnia and Herzegovina after the political failure to improve the districts’ recreation.
This campaign in 1995 prompted Dayton Peace Agreement finishing the 1992-1995
war (Schulte, 1999:19). Subsequently, the mission of NATO was changed from
regional defense to peacekeeping aim. The campaign by NATO to put an end to the
1992-1995 war denoted another phase for the Alliance, demonstrating that it was
ready to render military help of collective security measures if necessary.
When an emergency or crisis has happened there is an indecisiveness as to whether
there is absolutely a requirement for a universal exertion to venture in and oversee
such a crisis. For example, amid the Kosovo-Albania war in 1999, NATO felt that
they should venture in to offer help to Kosovo-Albanians. Be that as it may, NATO
was at first established as a defense mechanism toward the start of the Cold War and
stayed like that until the mid-1990s, the Balkan emergency prompted a reshaping of
its jobs and duties in worldwide legislative issues. Amid the Kosovo war, NATO gets
associated with the Serbian crackdown on Kosovo-Albanians, who were subjects of
what survived of Yugoslavia. Fridriksson (2011:11) affirmed that the contention
between the Albanian and Serbian prompted conflict and war which further gave rise
to international mediation, including NATO and the UN. However, in Kosovo war,
NATO's duties stepped forward when the Alliance felt free and propelled an 11-week
bombarding effort against Yugoslavia with the end goal to attempt and force Slobodan
Milosevic to expel his powers from Kosovo. This was an indication that an incredible
crisis was happening in which NATO expected to intercede.
According to Fridriksson (2011:11), the Kosovo war in actuality shows the two
phases of “peacekeeping and crisis management”. The NATO builds up that there is a
crisis occurring in which they need to get involved or intercede. Considering certain
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reasons, NATO moves in and begin military action to stop the wanton exercises
against Kosovo-Albanians. This to a gigantic level was an enormous development, as
Kosovo was not an all-around seen or internationally recognized state, but instead a
region of backside Yugoslavia (Serbia). However, Kosovo was put under the guardian
of UN as a strategy for keeping congruity and ensuring the secured return of the
people who were struck by the Kosovo war. This shows an altering example in
worldwide administrative issues where the relationship, for instance, NATO and the
UN were never again reserved from intruding in issues of sovereign nation-states.
However, in the Kosovo war, peace keeping and tension management is clearly shown
in periods before and after the United Nations administration.
Furthermore, the biggest exhibition of military power by NATO members happened
between 2001 and 2014 with the assistance of the International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) conveyed in Afghanistan, which is also viewed as one of NATO's most
important conflict management operations till date. The reception of another
technique, a comprehensive methodology by NATO at the Lisbon Summit in 2010
was aimed at peacekeeping and tension reduction which has been widely conflicting
in their outcomes and regularly controversial. This predicament is, specifically, valid
in Afghanistan where NATOs and its partners have been attempting to keep up
security since the American headed the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 after the
September 11 assaults on the World Trade Center. The worldwide discussion has
limited this choice and the usage of tension management mechanism in Afghanistan,
particularly after the Iraq war which drew assets and funds from Afghanistan. The
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its partners have been involved for
10 years now in Afghanistan and there is a need for conclusion to this exertion. In like
manner, for NATO powers to have the capacity to haul out, Afghanistan should
initially have achieved high level of security and ability to accommodate and provide
for its own security, also assure that the circumstance which emerged and required
possible international impedance does not happen once more.
Fridriksson (2011:11) asserted that “the conflict in Afghanistan has been a progressing
scene for NATO powers since the US drone attack in the winter of 2001/2002”. The
requirement for a far-reaching approach application to tension or crisis management
could best be exhibited in Afghanistan's conflict. Under the tutelage of United Nation
Security Council Resolution 138620, renewed every year since 2002, NATO heads an
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), in Afghanistan.
The conflict in Afghanistan has been a long and troublesome one, which has seen
numerous issues including the diversion of major assets and powers towards the Iraq
war. This has been one of the NATO's greatest difficulties and this is an excellent
model to use in the analysis of NATO's vital concept and the path forward in
peacekeeping and tension management. Firstly, the NATO analyzed the feud in
Afghanistan, delved into the country's history in connection to the nation's topography
which has attempted military endeavors in the region enormously problematic for
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foreign forces.
Besides the military exercises, NATO has been incorporated with a couple of
magnanimous missions and plan of assistance to affected zones in 2005: in the result
of Hurricane Katrina, which incited in excess of about 1200 deaths and migration of
about 4,000,000 people from the New Orleans district and the Mississippi sleeve
float, and after the 2005 Pakistan earthquake or tremor which killed around 53,000
Pakistanis and hurt an additional 75,000 in and outside North Atlantic region
(Brukard, Namaland and Retard 2008:215). NATO ensures that all people from the
Alliance respect the North Atlantic Treaty. According to Kaplan, "the obligation to
respect the settlement was an immense change for a few, states, including the United
States, where it began banter among independents".
The North Atlantic Council (NAC) which is the most essential administrative body
inside NATO made usage of the North Atlantic settlement as a guide for their
fundamental initiative and decision making processes. The council was founded under
article 9 of the NATO. The North Atlantic board included ambassadors from each
country, and besides people have ascended to express their points of view and offer in
the concession to which decisions are based. Henceforth, collective opinion shape the
present exercises of the NATO. One of such decisions was shaping certain tasks inside
endeavors as communicated in NATO's 2010 frameworks thought. The 2010
technique is a basic record that helps in organizing the effort of NATO while fulfilling
the objective of the treaty.
The NAC made clear that tension management focuses on reduction of the crisis that
develops and impact distinctive districts over the world. Supportive society aim
focuses on promoting worldwide security through an overall coordinated effort, while
the defense system bases on the deterence of antagonistic risks and the hindrance of
NATO members from those threatening result.
Contemporarily, the activity and role of NATO has been evolved. Since the early
1990s, tension management has been their frequent role. For instance, in the midst of
a period of tremendous hardship in Albania in 1997, the NATO assemble made a
movement to Albania to help with fixing up Albania's military structure, setting aside
some cash establishment and money related condition (Yost, 1998:235). Buratin
(2016), stated that Albania continued standing up to issues inside and remotely and
went to NATO in March 1998. As asserted by Yost, Albania transformed into an
important partner to first exercise its Partnership For Peace (PFP) emergency meeting
rights due to security issue over conflicts in Kosovo, Albania. The Albania
government was supported in various ways which included: help of Albanian
evacuees getting away from Serbian strike in Kosovo and general military assistance.
While attempting to help Albania, the Alliance dealt with the crisis effectively,
interfacing in the help of Tirana and ethnic Albanian dislodged persons while taking
the necessary steps not to induce Serbian government. As necessities are, this effort
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was key to the important task of crisis management and execution.
As indicated by Moore (2007:109), bringing in a new member state into the alliance is
accomplished through certain instruments, for example, Partnership for Peace (PF)
and the Membership Action Plan (MAP). Moore made it known that these instruments
help to put forthcoming countries on the correct course to meet the prerequisites
required for ascension. For example, the MAP was utilized and keeps on being
utilized to promote liberal reforms and changes in the western Balkan.
At the end of the cold war, a few previous Warsaw Pact countries have progressed
toward becoming Alliance countries. This shows the degree to which the security
condition has changed in the course of recent decades. Tomiuc (2002) attested that
Membership Action Plan (MAP) expects potential members to have stable democratic
based frameworks, seek after the serene settlement of regional and ethnic tensions,
have great relations with their neighbors, demonstrate responsibility to the standard of
law and human right, set up majority rule, be capable of regulating their military and
have an effective market economy.
At present, the NATO depends on the 2010 key idea and the major task indicated in
that record to manage its core interest. In any case, the collective defense still remains
NATO’s main role, day by day activities include the other important duties more
prominently. However, NATO centers around the new and recent conflict that
compromise the security of members and accomplices over the globe. It is important
to take note that NATO’s optional aim is to secure the dependability of non-members.
For instance, in 2014, NATO stated that it had a photograph demonstrating Russia’s
attack against Ukraine. Following the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), the event of the Korean War drove the member states to act
quickly, incorporate and coordinate their defense powers through a unified base camp.
The North Korean crackdown on South Korea was generally seen at that period to be
a case of socialist aggression coordinated by Moscow, so the United States reinforced
its troop to Europe to give affirmation against Soviet hostility on the European
landmass. Thus, the collective protection course of action in NATO served to put the
entire of Western European under the American Nuclear umbrella. Earlier, massive
countering was the primary precepts of NATO. This basically implies if any member
was attacked, the United States would react with a big scale atomic assault. This
prompt reaction by the United States filled in as an obstacle against Soviet hostility on
the continent. Contemporarily, the role of NATO has evolved.
Conclusively, NATO is an intergovernmental organization with an arrangement of
collective resistance and defense whereby its member states consent to defend any
attack by external bodies. The NATO was the instrument for conquering Europe's
division including its adversaries within the Alliance, the thought of changing it into
an alliance of collective interests concentrated essentially on dangers Europe faces at
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any rate as much resistance. Today, the basic security dangers standing up to the
United States and the NATO partners are outside as opposed to inside Europe. Europe
today is in relative harmony. Without precedent for a century, European strength isn't
compromised by a noteworthy power – be it a revisionist Germany or an expansionist
Russia. Be that as it may, Europe's genuine peace is today exasperated just by Serbia,
which is driven by a hooligan, whose activities cause substantial scale human
suffering, however, represent no crucial or foundational danger to NATO nations or
European stability. It is important to take note that the core assignment of NATO has
moved from collective defense to tension management and security. The role of
NATO has notably changed since the finish of cold war with the end goal that NATO
never again shies from meddling in the internal issues of sovereign member states.
However, NATO assumed an essential job in the peace keeping and crisis or tension
management in the 21 century.
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