I N T R O D U C T I O N

Since its foundation in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO / OTAN), or the North Atlantic Alliance, has had the goal of implementing and enforcing the North Atlantic Treaty, or Washington Treaty, that was signed on 4th April 1949 by its first 12 founding members. Although NATO was first put together having in mind a possible armed attack during the Cold War by the Soviet Union against Western Europe, and was designed to serve as a politico-militar coalition between countries in Europe and North America that would be able to prevent that kind of aggression from taking place, this attack never happened and the mutual self-defense clause contemplated in Article 5, the main section of the accord, by which all members states are required to come to the aid of any of its members states who’s being subject to an armed attack, wasn’t invoked until after the 9/11 attacks, and never has been again.

This way, this alliance that at first started with the sole purpose of dissuading any potential enemy from attacking any of its components, and uniting forces to counterattack effectively any kind of assault, after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, found itself in the position of having the chance to reconsider its main goals and expand them in order to also watch over the consolidation of democratic advances in the former Soviet bloc, as well as expanding its area of influence and protection to new countries and focusing in new cooperation initiatives between nations to ensure peace all around the globe. During these debates about the new direction the alliance should be taking in the next years to come, different actors from US and Europe raised their voices in favor or against different proposals. Some wanted to amplify NATO members list to add former members of the rival Warsaw Pact so peace-making agreements were more easily endorsed, and others feared that adding more countries to the Alliance could dilute it and lessen its real meaning and purpose.

Today, there are 29 members that compose the transatlantic alliance, and a number of others participate in its different partnership, dialogue and cooperation initiatives and plans. It works with over 40 partner countries as well as with other international organizations like the United Nations and the European Union. Even though NATO possesses few military assets of its own, its force comes from the contribution of all member countries that participate in its military structure, and adds up to more than 7.400.000 soldiers under national command and control until the time when they are required by NATO. The total sum of funds destined to military expenses by its members was approximately 965,570 million dollars in 2017, and that’s considering that only 4 of its members (United States, Greece, United Kingdom and Estonia) meet with the organization indications of spending at least 2% of its GDP to defense expenditures.