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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. The organization's motto is animus in consulendo liber. The organization's strategic concepts include deterrence.
The Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust and cooperation between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; 18 states are members. The program contains 6 areas of cooperation, which aims to build relationships with partners through military-to-military cooperation on training, exercises, disaster planning and response, science and environmental issues, professionalization, policy planning, and relations with civilian government. During policy negotiations in the 1990s, a primary controversy regarding PfP was its ability to be interpreted as a program that is a stepping stone for joining NATO with full Article 5 guarantees.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. The US Senate approved the treaty on 27 May 1988, and Reagan and Gorbachev ratified it on 1 June 1988.
Jack Foust Matlock Jr. is an American former ambassador, career Foreign Service Officer, teacher, historian, and linguist. He was a specialist in Soviet affairs during some of the most tumultuous years of the Cold War, and served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991.
The 1957 Paris summit was the first NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Paris, France took place on 16–19 December 1957. This was only the second meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949.
The 1974 Brussels summit was the second NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on June 26, 1974. This twenty-fifth anniversary event was only the third meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949.
The 1975 Brussels summit was the third NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on 29–30 May 1975. This event was only the third meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949.
The 1988 Brussels summit was the 8th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on 2–3 March 1988.
The 1994 Brussels summit was the 13th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Brussels, Belgium took place on 10–11 January 1994.
The 1977 London summit was the 4th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in London took place on 10–11 May 1977. This event was only the fifth meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949.
The 1978 Washington summit was the 5th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Washington, D.C. took place on May 30–31, 1978. This event was only the fifth meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949.
The 1982 Bonn summit was the 6th NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Bonn took place on 10 June 1982. This event was only the fifth meeting of the NATO heads of state following the ceremonial signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. When the summit was held, there were sixteen members of NATO.
The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It was held on November 19 and 20, 1985, between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race.
The Washington Summit of 1987 was a Cold War-era meeting between United States president Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev that took place on December 8–10. Reagan and Gorbachev discussed regional conflicts in Afghanistan, Central America, and Southern Africa, arms control issues for chemical weapons as well as conventional weapons, the status of START negotiations, and human rights. A notable accomplishment of the Washington Summit was the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
The 1990 London summit was the 10th NATO summit since 1949. The ones before had been in November 1985, March 1988 and May 1989.
The 2016 Warsaw Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the 27th formal meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, held at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, on 8 and 9 July 2016.
The history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) begins in the immediate aftermath of World War II when British diplomacy set the stage to contain the Soviet Union and to stop the expansion of Soviet power in Europe. The United Kingdom and France signed, in 1947, the Treaty of Dunkirk, a defensive pact, which was expanded in 1948 with the Treaty of Brussels to add the three Benelux countries and committed them to collective defense against an armed attack for fifty years. The British worked with Washington to expand the alliance into NATO in 1949, adding the United States and Canada as well as Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952, West Germany joined in 1955, Spain joined in 1982, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined in 1999, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined in 2004, Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro joined in 2017, North Macedonia joined in 2020, Finland joined in 2023, and Sweden joined in 2024.
The Helsinki Summit was a private, bilateral meeting between American President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that took place in Helsinki, Finland on September 9, 1990. Due to the vested interests of both the Soviet Union and the United States in the Gulf Crisis' resolution, August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was the primary topic of discussion for the leaders during the Helsinki Summit. The concerted efforts at easing American-Soviet tensions in the aftermath of the Cold War was another prominent topic, among other notable current events. At the summit's conclusion, Presidents Bush and Gorbachev produced a document of joint statements that illuminated the areas in which the leaders had committed to aligning their foreign policy goals. The summit was followed by a press conference wherein members of the media questioned Presidents Bush and Gorbachev about the content of their meeting and the justifications for their joint statements.
The 48th G7 summit was held from 26 to 28 June 2022 in Schloss Elmau, Krün, Bavarian Alps, Germany. Germany previously hosted a G7 summit in 2015 at Schloss Elmau.
In the context of the enlargement of NATO, Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty is the origin for the April 1999 statement of a "NATO open door policy". The open door policy requires a consensus in favour of countries applying to join NATO, as all member states must ratify the protocol enabling a new country to become a member of NATO. The open door policy "is aimed at promoting stability and cooperation".
References
- Thomas, Ian Q.R. (1997). The promise of alliance: NATO and the political imagination. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-8581-3; OCLC 36746439