NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Another name for NATO is North Atlantic Alliance and OTAN. NATO is an intergovernmental military organization. It includes 30 member states, 28 European states, one in Canada, and one in the United States.
NATO was formed after world war II, and NATO implemented the North Atlantic treaty on April 4, 1949. The headquarters of NATO is located in Brussels, Belgium. The current secretary-general of NATO is Jens Stoltenberg from Norwegian. The official website of NATO is www.nato.int
Features of NATO
- According to the NATO Standardization office, there are two official languages of NATO and one is English, and the other one is French.
- Initially, there were only 12 member countries in NATO. Over time the number of member states grew to 30.
- Recently, North Macedonia, a country in southern Europe, was added to NATO. While Georgia, Ukraine, and Bosnia were considered the aspiring countries to join NATO.
- There are twenty other countries are included in the Partnership for Peace program of NATO.
Origin and progress of NATO
- In 1947 Treaty of Dunkirk was done between the United Kingdom and France. This treaty expanded over time and renamed as Brussels Treaty Organisation.
- BTO gave rise to the need for a new treaty requirement for North America and its supporting countries.
- So, in 1949 a treaty was formed between the United States and other countries like Portugal, Norway, Canada, Denmark, etc. This treaty was named the North Atlantic Treaty.
- In the next few years, NATO adopted the integrated military structure and formed.
- Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE)
- Establishment of Secretary-General post in NATO
- STANAG (Standardization Agreement) and SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) were included in NATO.
- Establishing an integrated military was to provide the member nations with military and logistic support when in need.
- NATO enforces no law, and this organization does not work under any parliament.
- NATO has no authority to punish any individual for misconduct on any grounds.
- As there are minimal powers are given to NATO, this affects the sovereignty of the organization.
- NATO commanders have the power to give orders to their subordinates and ask them to make the operational orders and fragmental orders.
- All members of NATO must obey the law of Armed conflict.
Structure of NATO
- NATO and its agencies are grouped in a civilian or military administration.
- NATO’s governance and decisive powers are greatly affected by the North Atlantic Council (NAC). NAC has powers to make significant decisions about the policies of NATO.
- Secretary-General heads NAC. The decisions in the NAC meeting have a significant role to play in the NATO setup.
- The representative members make the decision taken by NATO. Each nation is responsible for its decisions.
- NATO’s headquarters at Brussels has a leveraged staff that includes the military official of member countries, delegates of member countries, and diplomats from the partner countries.
- Several non-government groups come forward to support NATO under the Atlantic Treaty Association movement.
- In the NATO military committee, there is a chief of defense from each member state of NATO.
- The primary function of the defense department chief is to advise the NAC about the military policies in NATO.
- The military committee conducts all regular meetings, including senior army officers from the member nations.
- NATO has a separate wing that controls and manages the operations of NATO worldwide, which is called Allied Command Operations (ACO).
- The training of NATO forces is done by Allied Command Transformation (ACT).
The agencies of NATO are
- NATO support Agency: This agency supports NATO’s overall policies and decisions.
- NATO communication and information agency: This agency is based at the headquarters of NATO. This agency includes a minimal staff and handles NATO’s communication and information-related requirements.
- NATO Standardization office: This office was called the NATO standardization agency.
- NATO Science and technology organization: This looks after the NATO undersea research center. This organization has a program office and a chief scientist, and this organization works for the science and technology advancement of NATO.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Why did NATO not send military help to Ukraine?
NATO has not sent its troop to Ukraine to confront the Russian troops when Russia invade Ukraine because of the following reasons:
- Ukraine is not part of NATO.
- If NATO sends its troops to Ukraine to fight with Russian soldiers, it may complicate the matter.
- NATO supported Ukraine and warned Russia that war must not expand beyond the borders of Ukraine.
2. Why does Russia Oppose NATO?
Russia has a strong belief that its expansion in Eastern Europe is influencing the political environment of Europe. Russia also wanted that Ukraine should not join NATO, which was Russia’s demand before invading Ukraine.