Is NATO ‘obsolete’ or still vital?
President Donald Trump has said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an almost 70-year-old international organization, may be “obsolete”—igniting a national debate over whether the United States should continue to take a leading role in the promised defense of European nations, who some perceive to have invested insufficiently in their own militaries.
While the administration has stopped short of a “pay up or else” message, strong words from the president and others have led some world leaders to wonder if the days of relying on the US as an indispensable ally are over.
For many of us, mention of NATO conjures little more than a fuzzy memory from history class. But at the time of its birth, it was considered an indispensable safeguard against a looming existential threat.
Created by the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 with nations from Western Europe and the United States and Canada, it was formed to provide a common defense against possible attacks from the Soviet Union in the early Cold War years. Over time, its membership grew from 12 to 29, with some countries—such as Spain, Greece, and Turkey—transitioning into democracies after they became members.
But where does that leave NATO today? Michael John Williams, director of New York University’s international relations program and the author of The Good War: NATO and the Liberal Conscience in Afghanistan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and NATO, Security, and Risk Management: From Kosovo to Kandahar (Routledge, 2009) discusses the intricacies of transatlantic relations and what the consequences for a weakened NATO might be.
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