NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

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...

After the II World War, Europe, who historically had always been the most powerful area of the world, was devastated; it had been the scenario of the two biggest wars in history, as well as plenty of ideological tension. Europe lost its power to give it to the new upcoming emergent international order characterized by two great powers: the United States of America and the Soviet Union (one representing Capitalism, and the other one Communism). It is often said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union. This is only partially true. In fact, the Alliance’s creation was part of a broader effort to serve three purposes: deterring Soviet expansionism, forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe through a strong North American presence on the continent, and encouraging European political integration.  Fortunately, by then the United States had turned its back on its traditional policy of diplomatic is...