North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Why in news?

• Russia recently said it would halt the activities of its diplomatic mission to NATO after the Western military alliance expelled eight Russians in a row over spying.

About NATO

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 North American and European countries.
• It was established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949.
• The NATO headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium

Members:

• Of the 30 member countries, two are located in North America (Canada and the United States), 28 are in Europe, one of which (Turkey) is in both Europe and Asia.
• Three of NATO's members are nuclear weapons states: France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.
• NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.

Objective:

• NATO constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
• NATO's protection does not extend to members' civil wars or internal coups.

Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme

• It was established in 1994 and is based on individual bilateral relations between each partner country and NATO: each country may choose the extent of its participation.
• Members include all current and former members of the Commonwealth of Independent States
  • The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional intergovernmental organization of nine (originally ten) members, plus two founding non-member, post-Soviet republics in Eurasia.
  • It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991

Add ons:

• The combined military spending of all NATO members in 2020 constituted over 57% of the global nominal total
• Members agreed that their aim is to reach or maintain the target defence spending of at least 2% of their GDP by 2024

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Which of the following countries is not a member of North Atlantic Treaty organization?

(a) Canada

(b) United Kingdom

(c) Japan

(d) Turkey

Answer