| NATO at 60
Berdal, Mats; Ucko, David
Survival, April/May 2009, v51, #2, pp55-76 (PDF)
"As NATO turns 60 in April 2009, celebrations will be tempered by the continuing difficulties it faces in Afghanistan. The Alliance's first operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area has revealed a major gap between grand ambitions and actual capability. Central to this problem is the political disunity among NATO's member-states. The Strasbourg-Kehl summit may provide an opportunity to rethink what can most realistically be expected from NATO in terms of its contribution to international peace and security. Here, much can be learnt from the manner in which it has thus far responded to changing strategic circumstances since the Cold War, and the constraints, internal and external, that have impinged on its activities and are likely to continue to do so. The evidence points to a need for NATO to bring its exalted political purposes into closer alignment with its actual military missions and capabilities. The Alliance still has a potentially important role to play, but greater realism is needed both as to its strengths and its weaknesses."
Mats Berdal is Professor of Security and Development in the Department of War Studies, King's College London. He was formerly Director of Studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. David Ucko is a Transatlantic Fellow at the RAND Corporation.
Go to the article at:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a909778142~db=all
F10/02-09, posted April 27, 2009
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