North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Geschiedenis

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European states based on the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. Three NATO members (the United States, France and the United Kingdom) are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATO Headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.NATO is an alliance that consists of 29 independent member countries across North America and Europe. An additional 21 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total. Members' defense spending is supposed to amount to at least 2% of GDP.

"Founded in the aftermath of WWII to secure peace in Europe and promote cooperation among its members and to guard their freedom - in the context of countering the threat posed at the time by the Soviet Union. The Alliance's founding treaty was signed in 1949. It commits the Allies to democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law, as well as to peaceful resolution of disputes. The Treaty sets out the idea of collective defence, meaning that an attack on Ally is considered an attack against all Allies. NATO ensures that the security of its European member countries is inseparably linked to that of its North American member countries."