NATO, R.I.P.

In what might be described as a quest for coherence through commodification, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has hired a former Coca-Cola executive to foster greater understanding about its reason for being.^[1] But can an alliance emulate a soft drink giant's success at reinvention? Not likely. Coke has been creative--though not always successful--in its self-presentation, but no one has ever doubted what it is: a beverage. NATO's problem is that its purpose is no longer clear, even to its own members. In several key NATO states, few people know what the alliance does, let alone how it serves their interests. And who can blame them? Just try to define the present purpose of NATO as a military alliance in a sentence, even a long sentence. It's not easy as it once was: From its creation in 1949 until the end of 1991, everyone knew that NATO existed to deter the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, and, failing that, to defend Western Europe.

As all serious Atlanticists recognize, however, that was not NATO's only purpose. NATO was a military alliance on paper, but a political arrangement in everyone's minds. As its first Secretary General Lord Ismay famously quipped, NATO was created not just to "keep the Russians out" but also to keep "the Germans down, and the Americans in." In other words, it was designed to prevent a repetition of mistakes made after World War I: avert another round of German hypernationalist recidivism, and another American relapse into isolationism. Statesmen are always busy solving the last postwar endgame no less than generals are always busy preparing to fight the last war.

Still, it worked. NATO was a critical element in a multi-pronged strategy to maintain peace and security in Europe. Today, few Europeans are worried that even a reunited Germany will start another world war, and few expect another American relapse into isolationism (which should not be confused with some retrenchment in what is still essentially an internationalist strategy). The question going forward, however, is whether NATO still has a useful role in any of these three areas: preventing unwanted Russian influence, taming Germany's historical demons and keeping U.S. power attached to both European security and the broader American interests in peace and stability on the continent.

[1] Stephen Caste, "NATO Hires a Coke Executive to Retool Its Brand", New York Times, July 16, 2008.