North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

NATO, the Western defensive military alliance led by the United States,  that a Russian missile killed two of its citizens. 

• Polish Prime Minister had said that the country was considering whether it should launch NATO’s Article 4 procedure. 
• Any attack on Poland, a NATO member, could drag the 30-nation strong alliance into the Russia-Ukraine conflict, risking a full-fledged nuclear war.

What is NATO?

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation came into being after World War II as a counter to the Soviet Union’s possible expansion attempts in Europe. 
• Then-US President Harry S Truman signed the 12-member treaty on April 4, 1949. 
• After the collapse of USSR in 1991, several eastern European nations previously members of the Soviet Union joined NATO.
• As of now, NATO comprise 30 members — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
• Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership and were invited to join the collective by 28 of the 30 members, with Turkey and Hungary being notable exceptions. 
• Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia have expressed interest in joining the collective as well.

NATO’s Core Duties

• The NATO works on a collective defense principle and routinely undertakes exercises to strengthen their territorial, naval, and air forces. 
• NATO members also arm themselves to face evolving methods of attacks like cybercrimes, and have participated in military operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosova, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, among others.
• Article 4 of the treaty mandates that the member nations consult each other when faced with threat. 
• Article 5 spells out the ‘one-for-all, all-for-one’ nature of the treaty. It reads
• In exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Rivalry that goes way back

• NATO and Russia have always been at odds with each other, since the treaty was signed to keep Russian expansionism at bay.
• When NATO came into existence, Soviet Union had sought to counter this Western alliance with a defence collective of its own and signed the Warsaw Pact with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, and Romania during the Cold War. However, this pact was gradually dissolved after the war ended and its existing member nations eventually joined the NATO.
• The expansion of NATO from 12 to 30 members has been a source of tension between Russia and the West for years.
• In Europe, Russia shares a border with Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Georgia. Of this, apart from Belarus and Ukraine, the others have either joined NATO or are in queue for a membership.
• Russia sees the presence of Western military and nuclear bases in its neighbourhood as a threat.