The changing nature of NATO: towards a regional security organization?

Abstract

This article deals with the role of NATO as a cornerstone of the Transatlantic Relationship, and its possible development as a regional or global organization. In this regard, NATO has launched the development of a new Strategic Concept and Transatlantic Relations are being redefined in an international context of loss of US hegemony. Obama’s foreign policy strategy is to reposition the US for a much more multipolar world, while, at the same time, the European integration is progressing and the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) is being developed. Europe is not longer the centre of the US strategic policy, and the European Union has its own interests to defend, especially in its neighbourhood. However, the United States and the European allies still have common threats and shared security interests, and NATO is still the primary Transatlantic security institution. An Alliance exclusively focused on European Security and collective defence is probably not interesting for the US anymore, but a global NATO, with global reach and global partners, is not acceptable for European countries. A NATO with regional identity, but open to discuss common challenges and threats of global nature is an intermediate option.