What Next for NATO

If nothing else, gathering of the 20 of May 2012 in Chicago of NATO Allies and partners demonstrated the type of political resolve and commitment that had been the core of the Alliance’s ability to keep its members secure for over 60 years. While Afghanistan clearly dominated the issues at the summit, NATO endorsed key proposals on defense capabilities, the need to streamline and modernize in a time of budget constraints, and strengthening NATO’s partnerships outside the 28-nation alliance. In short, there were no surprises.

The included pieces reflect the challenges and opportunities for NATO as it looked ahead to 2014 and beyond. First, two pieces, by Sarah Raine and Javid Ahmad, address the ' unfinished business ' that NATO had to address such as a commitment to sufficient levels of defense spending by the European members of NATO and the need to resource a sustained training and advisory mission in Afghanistan. Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer asked what kind of ally France would be in the Alliance under Hollande’s presidency and Josh Walker described the increasing significance of Turkey and the decisive role they could play given instability in the Middle East. The final set of essays focused on partnership and emerging challenges for NATO. Emiliano Allessandri argued for the need to strengthen NATO’s partnerships in the Mediterranean and Andrew Small wrote about the need for NATO to think about developing relations with China. Finally, Dhruva Jaishankar reminded us that NATO had to think about the ' global ' challenges presented by the maritime and cyber dimensions, as well as a need for NATO to consider a leading role with regards to space.