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Show HINCKLEY JOURNAL OF POLITICS SPRING 2001 Standing at the Crossroads: NATO in the Twenty First Century By James Seaman The end of the Cold War, the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact, and NATO's recent decision to expand, has brought new challenges to the organization. As NATO cannot remain stagnant without losing its will to act, the best policy is to include Russia as a member. Including Russia would alleviate Russia's view of the West as a potential aggressor, give NATO legitimacy in the volatile Balkans and display America's commitment to Russia's efforts to adopt democracy and capitalism. NATO expansion should include all major European players, of which Russia is one. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949, born of east-west Cold War hostility and suspicion. NATO was a military alliance, designed to provide a unified western front against the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact encompassed most of Eastern Europe and included only Soviet-friendly communist regimes. With the Cold War passing into the archives of history, many have questioned the relevance of NATO. The organization is clearly at a crossroads in terms of what goals and policies, if any, to pursue in the twenty-first century. As NATO's strongest member, the United States plays a significant role in determining the fate of the alliance. While the most recent policy has been to support NATO expansion, this framework presents dangers, especially when one considers the fate of NATO's traditional enemy-the Russians. After considering various policy options, and always keeping a keen eye on history, it becomes apparent that the best choice for the United States is to support a continued policy of NATO expansion-one that will bring Russia into the alliance. STATUS OF NATO NATO's original treaty states that the organization's members will consult when the territorial integrity, independence, or security of any member is threatened (Henrikson 1995, 96-97). Essentially, NATO was to guard against European war and security threats in general, not specifically against the Soviet Union or any other particular threat. Throughout the Cold War, of course, all NATO's members assumed that the James Seaman received a Bachelor of Science in Political science and Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Utah. He plans to work for one year on the Pro Bono Initiative, sponsored by the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center and funded by a Tanner fellowship. He then plans to attend law school. primary threat to security in Europe was the Soviet Union. It is significant that NATO's original charter did not specify the Soviet threat, though, because this allows one to argue that the end of the Cold War did not automatically signify the end of NATO's original goals. Security in Europe is the goal, thus maintaining the NATO alliance even after the collapse of the Soviet threat means that NATO is pursuing its larger goal of European stability and security. Therefore, considering that NATO's original charter does not point to Eastern European and Russian communism as the reason for its existence, NATO's current expansion eastward is not as ironic as it might at first appear. Currently, NATO is expanding its membership to include Eastern European nations. The end of the Cold War a decade ago left NATO facing a significant crossroads: to declare the Cold War won and its mission accomplished, to maintain the organization's status quo, or to expand and include former members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. Only in recent years has it become evident that NATO does not wish to maintain the status quo. NATO has begun to expand, officially adding Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. This increases NATO's size to nineteen countries, and drastically changes the organization's composition, with the former enemies of Eastern Europe becoming official members of the alliance. Romania, Bulgaria, and the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) may be future candidates for NATO expansion. NATO's current geographical expansion coincides with the expansion of roles for the organization. With the deployment of NATO peacekeeping troops into Bosnia in 1995, and the airstrikes against Serbia in the spring of 1999, NATO's mission has changed from deterring the Soviet Union to active participation in the dramatic events in the Balkans. This new role means an expansion for NATO in two ways. First, NATO has expanded beyond simply a defensive securi- 77 |