NATO and the emerging new security agenda: an alliance in quest of consensus?
In: International security in a time of change: threats - concepts - institutions: Festschrift for Adam Daniel Rotfeld, S. 293-304
"Never before has NATO been as deeply divided as on the Iraq question. While the United States is deploying substantial forces in the Gulf region for a military intervention to disarm Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein, some European members, such as France and Germany, want to see UN inspections to continue and be made more efficient. When Washington requested NATO to start planning procedures for a military conflict, and to initiate the deployment of AWACS planes, patriot air defense missiles and anti-ABC-units to Turkey, the alliance's most endangered member, three countries balked. They felt it would give a wrong signal if NATO started planning for a military contingency before all means for a peaceful settlement had been exhausted. Only after a prolonged impasse, a compromise was achieved. As a result, NATO's cohesion and effectiveness was seriously damaged. This paper deals with the argument that NATO, in spite of its impressive success during the East-West conflict, is not a solid rock unaffected by the changes which have place taken since. At close look, it shows serious cracks in its structure which have their origin in the very different functions NATO members now associate with the alliance. Has the Prague Summit, hailed as a great success, thus initiated effective measures to mend these fissures and strengthen NATO's coherence and effectiveness? " (extract)