What is NATO Which countries are members of NATO Who can become a member of NATO How did NATO expand: historical background by year
What is NATO?
NATO is an international military-political organization. In English, the abbreviation NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization and is translated as North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The main purpose of the alliance is to guarantee the security and freedom of the participating countries. For this purpose, they use both military and political tools.
The alliance’s main document is the North Atlantic Treaty, which embraces the fundamental principle of the military bloc, collective defense, as described in Article 5. According to this principle, an attack on one or more NATO members, Attack on the entire allianceand other allies are obliged to provide assistance to the threatened country.
In NATO’s entire history, Article 5 has only been invoked once. The United States used it to gain support from its allies following the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York by the terrorist organization al-Qaeda (an organization banned in Russia).
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Which countries are members of NATO?
In 1949, NATO included 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Great Britain and the United States. Later, new members began to join the alliance. In total, NATO has 32 states.
NATO countries for 2024:
- Albania;
- Belgium;
- Bulgaria;
- Hungary;
- Germany;
- Greece;
- Denmark;
- Iceland;
- Spain;
- Italy;
- Canada;
- Latvia;
- Lithuanian;
- Luxembourg;
- Holland;
- Norway;
- Poland;
- Portugal;
- Romania;
- North Macedonia;
- Slovakia;
- Slovenia;
- United Kingdom;
- AMERICA;
- Türkiye;
- Finland;
- France;
- Croatia;
- Montenegro;
- Czech Republic;
- Swedish;
- Estonia.
Three more countries (Georgia, Ukraine and Bosnia-Herzegovina) are candidates for membership. Possible accession to NATO causing serious controversy The alliance feared that this could lead to negative consequences within the organization. negative political consequences.
Total number of military personnel of NATO member countries corresponds to: 3.36 million people and the military budget is estimated at 1.26 trillion US dollars.
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Who can become a member of NATO?
Alliance sticks to so-called rules open door policyThis is enshrined in Article 10 of the Washington Treaty and gives any European country that can contribute to the “security of the North Atlantic area” the opportunity to join NATO.
The decision to invite a country to join the alliance is made by the North Atlantic Council based on the consensus of all allies.
“Countries seeking NATO membership are also expected to achieve certain political, economic and military objectives to ensure that they can contribute to and benefit from the security of the alliance.” noted On the official NATO website.
In addition, the candidate country must share the principles of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Since April 1999, the first step in joining NATO is the approval of the Membership Action Programme (MAP). It describes the measures to be taken to prepare the state for alliance membership.
How NATO expanded: historical background by year
Since its founding in 1949, NATO has expanded significantly. Initially established as a defensive alliance against possible aggression by the Soviet Union, the alliance has gradually added more countries to its ranks. At the same time, following the collapse of the USSR, Western countries assured Moscow that they would not expand the bloc into Russia’s borders.
NATO’s expansion occurred in several stages, each of which It was time “geopolitical changes and the desire of countries to strengthen their defense capabilities.”
1949: Founding of NATO
On April 4, 1949, 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty, marking the beginning of NATO’s establishment. The founders included the United States, Canada, and ten Western European countries: Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and France. The main purpose of the alliance was collective defense against possible Soviet aggression.
1952: Greece and Türkiye
NATO’s first expansion occurred in 1952, when Greece and Turkey joined the Alliance. Their entry was motivated by rising tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the need to strengthen NATO’s southern flank in the face of a possible threat from the Soviet Union, which by then had already demonstrated its ambitions in Eastern Europe.
1955: West Germany
West Germany became a member of NATO in 1955, an important step in the process of Germany’s reconstruction and reintegration into Western society after World War II. This provoked a negative reaction from the Soviet Union and was one of the reasons for the creation of the Warsaw Pact Organization, a military bloc of Eastern European countries under the auspices of the USSR.
1982: Spain
Spain joined NATO in 1982, seven years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Spain’s entry into the alliance was an important step in its democratic transition and its desire to integrate into Western structures. Spain’s NATO membership Approved In the referendum held in the country in 1986.
1999, first post-Soviet enlargement: Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary
Following the end of the Cold War, NATO began a process of expansion eastwards. The entry of new members from Central and Eastern Europe was made possible by the collapse of communist regimes and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The first former Warsaw Pact countries to join NATO were Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. They joined the alliance on 12 March 1999.
2004: Biggest expansion to the East
In 2004, NATO accepted seven countries into its ranks: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
This expansion was the largest in the alliance’s history and covered a large part of Eastern Europe, including three former Soviet republics.
2009: Albania and Croatia
Albania and Croatia became members of NATO on 1 April 2009. Their entry was an important step towards the integration of the Balkans into Euro-Atlantic structures and the stabilization of the region after the bloody conflicts in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
2017: Montenegro
Montenegro joined NATO on June 5, 2017. The move came as a result of years of reforms and efforts to strengthen the country’s democratic institutions.
2020: North Macedonia
North Macedonia became a member of NATO on March 27, 2020. Its entry was delayed due to disagreements with Greece over the country’s name, but after this dispute was resolved, the country managed to become part of the alliance.
2022-2024: Finland and Sweden
In 2022, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO, a historic step for these neutral countries. Finland officially joined NATO in 2023, and Sweden in 2024.
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Source: Gazeta
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.