Political Sciences

The role of NATO after Cold War

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The role of NATO after Cold War

NATO by the end of Cold War

By the end of the Cold War, NATO was an alliance essentially defensive, confined to the outer defense, but also inside their member states (16 in 1989). The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them, arising in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack directed against all parties and therefore agree that, if such an attack to produce, each will assist the Party or Parties attacked including the use of armed force to restore and ensure security in the North Atlantic region (Gheciu, 2005).

His opponent was named the USSR and the countries acceding to the Treaty of Warsaw. After the “fall of the wall” and the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty, after the USSR, the question of the very existence of NATO was placed, including the means traditionally Atlanticist. There was talk then of 'peace dividend', reduction of armies and military spending, some even spoke of the “end of history”. But the “end of history” would not last long (Duffield, 1994, pp.763-787).

Indeed, already in 1991, the Yugoslav wars broke out: after the short war in Slovenia, the conflict in Croatia presented itself harder to solve and occasioned an establishment of peacekeepers between Serb and Croat forces, and especially the prolonged war up in Bosnia, where he took a course more complex and bloody because of the coexistence of populations. The major powers would quickly pick your field and tended to reduce the complex motivations of a civil war, a Manichean clash between 'good' and 'bad'. It must be recognized that the Serbian military superiority, undeniably the beginning of hostilities, would facilitate the task of the great powers and the media at his command, to convince the public that the Serbs were naturally 'bad'.

Germany proved to be a key diplomatic mainstay at first republics in the process of secession, Slovenia and Croatia, obtained recognition of their independence by the European Community in exchange for some concessions in the negotiation of the Treaty of Maastricht. You must also specify that, after several years, Bonn neither encouraged and organized means Croatian independence nor waited for the start of hostilities to provide them with training and military equipment (Kamp, 1999, pp.5-11).

The U.S. makes up the stakes

Following Germany hastened the United States. Having hesitated at first to maintain the integrity of Yugoslavia, useful ally during the Cold War, the Bush administration demanded the Europeans that Bosnia and Herzegovina would be entitled to the same “favorable treatment” that Croatia and Slovenia, i.e. the recognition of their independence and leaned against the Muslim government of Izetbegovic to increase its influence in the region (McCalla, 1996, pp.445-476). With Clinton, the U.S. intervention in the region has continued to grow, eventually supplant Germany as the main military support to the Croatian government to end the war. A similar scenario was developed a few years later in support of ...