April 2024 marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, the foundational document of NATO, the political-military organization set up in 1949 by eleven states in Europe and North America.
Over more than seven decades, NATO has made an essential contribution to regional and global security. During the long period of the Cold War, NATO was the bastion of defence against the Soviet bloc. Since the 1990s, it has engaged in multiple tasks - peacekeeping in the Balkans and Afghanistan, the integration of new members in eastern and northern Europe (NATO now has thirty-two members), and deterring Russian aggression.
NATO also has a global network of partners, and is potentially an alliance that can counter China. But for all this, NATO is seen by many as an organisation that is divided and ineffective. It may soon have to face up to the challenge of a NATO sceptic, Donald Trump, being re-elected as American president. It is currently grappling, not entirely successfully, with the war in Ukraine.
This lecture considers NATO’s recent past and possible future trajectory – placing these developments within the context of the NATO summit due to take place in Washington DC in July.
Book your place to attend 'NATO at 75: Still Fit for Purpose?' Lecture