North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a treaty organization and military alliance.
History
The Treaty of Dunkirk in 1947 established a mutual security pact for the United Kingdom and France. The Czechoslovak coup pushed them to rapidly expand membership.
First the Treaty of Brussels in 1948 added Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This organization became known as the Western Union.
The North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 added Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. The Korean War demonstrated the necessity of a treaty organization. The Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO) was adopted and transformed into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Members
Founding members:
Subsequent members:
Bosnia-Herzegovina has a Membership Action Plan (MAP) since 2008.
Georgia has also began dialogue to enter the organization, but no formal steps have been taken.
Ukraine formally applied to join the organization in 2022, following the Russian invasion. The council agreed that no MAP is necessary for their application to proceed.
Structure
Organization
The organization is overseen by the North Atlantic Council (NAC). Initially this council was composed of member states' foreign ministers and equivalents, and it met annually. Since 1952, the council has been in permanent session. Member states designate a permanent representative; they are frequently swapped out for heads of state, state ministers, or defense ministers.
Operational leadership is split between a secretary general that chairs the council, a supreme commander (always of the U.S. Armed Forces), and a chair of the military committee (also a military position, but not necessary of the U.S.).
The organization largely avoids the politics of members. Stoltenberg argued that "NATO is the most successful alliance in history because we have been able to stay out of domestic political debates."
Treaty
The treaty functionally is a cooperative pact, rather than an enforceable law.
In many ways, the only important component of the treaty is Article 5, which establishes that an attack on one member is an attack on all members.