The Pros And Cons Of NATO

After the end of the Cold War, there were debates between realists and liberals on whether NATO as an international institution should step down or expand. Realists argued that NATO’s enemy, the Soviet Union, had fell and thus their purpose was over, whereas liberals believed in the importance of continued cooperation and collaboration (Waltz, 2007:29). There are still disagreements on the importance of international institutions, where liberal thinkers promote institutions as significant in preventing conflicts. In this essay, I will look at why liberals think international institutions are a good thing, and I will discuss this with reference to NATO. I will argue that liberals think NATO is good because it provides collective security for

With the construction of institutions such as the United Nations, NATO, the World Bank and the European Union, one could argue that liberalism to a certain extent has shaped the environment of international politics of late 20th and early 21st century with regional integration and more cooperation (Stein, 2008:202). The theory has its roots in the 18th century with Immanuel Kant’s idea of freedom from the state and equality (Pirnuta & Secarea, 2012:103). However, throughout the 20th century, it has developed into a concept with different strands and interpretations. Liberals tend to focus on economic growth, interdependence between states, democratisation and human rights (Richardson, 1997:7). One of the main aspects of the theory is the emphasis on international cooperation and institutional arrangements, which can be contrasted with realist’s emphasis on the role of anarchy and the constant possibility of conflicts (Stein, 2008:204). To contrast liberalism with realism can be helpful in understanding the theory further because liberal theory developed as a reaction to

According to the realist John Mearsheimer, there are no widely agreed upon definition of institutions in international relations, but it can be seen as a set of rules that determine how states should cooperate and compete with each other (Mearsheimer, 1994/95:8). The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is an international institution with a significant role in international politics according to liberals. It was originally created as an alliance for the Western powers during the Cold War with a primary focus on collective defence against the Soviet Union. The treaty was based on Article 5 which states that an attack on one member state would be considered an attack on all, and hence all would respond (Pinuta & Secarea, 2012:105). After the Cold War, NATO has taken on new members and new tasks, and are no longer just about collective defence, but also collective security (NATO, Unknown date). The cooperation within NATO is a multilateral cooperation which makes member-states interdependent. It is an institution in which has been debated a lot, mainly between liberals and realists, where the two hold distinct perspectives. Some of these distinctions will become clear as I discuss some of the important features of NATO: collective security, cooperation and