How Does the Future of the NATO Look Like in the New Century?

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1,0, University of Wroclaw, language: English, abstract: After the end of the Soviet Communism, the NATO was described by many experts as a dying institution. Kenneth Waltz, an American political scientist judged the NATO in 1990 as a ‘disappearing thing‘ and he forecasted, that it‘s only a question of time until this institution will become insignificant.1 The big common enemy was missing and the probability of a new rising threat for western civilization was about zero. The need of article V, including its security guarantees seemed to be useless and therewith the ‘raison d‘être‘ of the biggest multilateral intergovernmental security community was lost. Critics see the NATO as a relic from the Cold War and suspect the United States of America to utilize this institution in order to enlarge and intensify their worldwide sphere of influence.2 The only fait accompli is the fact that NATO has changed. To underline this statement General Secretary Robertson was wearing a t-shirt, with the slogan ‘This ain‘t your daddy‘s NATO‘, at the NATO summit 2003 in Colorado Springs.3 The question accrues what the NATO exactly is in our days and if the changes made, since 1990 are significant enough to guarantee the survival of the biggest multilateral military alliance? The following essay analyzes what the NATO is and investigates the different future scenarios of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.