Footsteps of the Third World War and the Role of NATO (2)

The years after the founding of the NATO alliance passed with political and ideological conflicts and conflicts between East and West. Both sides thought that the only way to maintain the balance was to have ready military forces to provide deterrence. In this context, NATO countries benefited from the common security umbrella and benefited from NATO's deterrence against the expansionist ambitions of the Warsaw Pact. The same was true for the Warsaw Pact member countries.
When we examine the Cold War period according to the theories of international relations, we can say that the realist paradigm based on a state-centered and security understanding identified with military power dominates the agenda. Accordingly, countries in the Western world; It joined forces under the umbrella of NATO in order to maximize their joint strength in a way that balances the military power of the Warsaw Pact countries. With the effect of East-West rivalry and nuclear struggle, the NATO concept, which was valid in this period, was shaped on power, and member countries tried to keep their military forces ready for war as if war could break out at any moment.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the East-West enmity and rivalry that had been going on for almost half a century, was actually shelved and largely lost its validity. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact disappeared. The original heir of the Soviets, the Russian Federation; due to its political instability in its own internal structure, it gave the appearance of a country struggling with its own problems, which could no longer be a threat to NATO. Eastern Europe and the Turkic States, which gained their independence by breaking away from the Soviet Union, have become new countries that NATO should contact as new actors of the international system.
While these were happening in the Soviet world, NATO's reason for existence (raison d'être) disappeared for a moment. Whereas, NATO; It was an international political and military organization that was seen as generally successful during the Cold War years and survived when the Warsaw Pact was destroyed. In the framework of newly developing conditions, it had a structure that could continue solidarity and cooperation as well as guaranteeing the common security of its members. The continuation of this deep-rooted and proven structure was deemed necessary by the majority of member countries in many respects, and the idea of ​​keeping NATO alive began to gain weight in the alliance.
Those who are in favor of the continuation of NATO; within the framework of the neo-liberal paradigm that has dominated the world since the 1980s, in order to maintain the military power level of the alliance, to maintain the security of its members in the face of newly defined threats and risks, and to ensure the continuity of peace instead of conflict, the environment of cooperation and solidarity offered by NATO as an international organization argued that it is important. Although there is no official opposition country within the alliance, some thinkers outside the alliance have kept their stance in the context of the realist paradigm and embraced the rhetoric of "the threat is over, there is no need for an alliance".
As it is known, with the changing security environment as a result of the end of the Cold War, the understanding of defense has also changed and the needs have differentiated. In the new world order of the 1990s, NATO felt the need to change its strategic concept in order to both legitimize its existence and provide a justification for resisting new threats.
As a result of the studies carried out in this context, NATO's new strategic concept, which was announced at the 1991 Rome Summit, emphasized that the security environment in Europe had changed and cooperation and dialogue came to the fore. Among the new threats and risks are ethnic conflicts, border problems, instability caused by economic, social and political contradictions. At this point, as a requirement of the new concept, the Alliance; It was decided that it should have sufficient military capabilities for deterrence and defense, develop comprehensive capabilities to effectively respond to crises, and put into action political initiatives based on cooperation that emphasize dialogue. In this context, NATO took care to incorporate new concept-based military capabilities in the 1990s.
Restructured in line with the new concept, NATO; It continued to provide solidarity and cooperation among its members with summits, mainly at the level of heads of state and/or ministers. The main theme of NATO Summits after the Cold War was built on “preserving the peace environment, keeping cooperation and dialogue open”.
In this context, NATO; in the post-Cold War period, it continued to consider providing the common defense of its members as its primary duty. In addition, NATO has shown that it is the most important actor in maintaining the strategic balance in Europe, as it has successfully maintained since 1949; expanded its "democracy, security and stability" environment towards the east of NATO. 
In this period, NATO, while trying to strengthen the coordination and cooperation among its members with the forums it created, also pioneered formations with a regional character. In this context, it has introduced wider mechanisms such as the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, and has endeavored to develop a cooperation environment that will establish world peace with many countries.
Again in this direction, in addition to the establishment of the NATO-Ukraine Commission in 1997, with the idea of ​​establishing a Permanent Partnership Council with the Russian Federation in the same year, the organization was able to open its doors even to its former archenemy.
As a result of the decision taken at the Istanbul Summit held in 2004, the Alliance had the opportunity to increase its contacts with the four countries on the Persian Gulf coast under the name of “Istanbul Cooperation Initiative”.
Thus, NATO has made a great effort to show that it has an organizational approach that focuses on the themes of peace and cooperation rather than conflict. Taking advantage of the free market and economic globalization, the extension of liberalism/neo-liberalism, as well as the concept of "interdependence" and the "complex interdependence" model, which is famous for Keohane and Nye, NATO is meeting with all actors on a ground where it can cooperate in high policy areas. demonstrated his skill. Thus, Western countries; With these approaches, under the leadership of NATO and backed by the hegemon USA, it is aimed to establish a new structure based on international interdependence relations and to reduce international conflicts within this structure.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the European Union's economy-heavy hat, NATO; As a result of the synergy that emerged, it assumed the function of a kind of leverage that eliminated the ideological, political, military and geographical divisions in Europe. As a result, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary were admitted to NATO membership in 1999, and the number of members reached 19. Then in 2004 Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia; Albania and Croatia joined the Alliance in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and Macedonia in 2020, thus bringing the total number of members to 30. Although the membership status of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Georgia is on the agenda, it still remains uncertain.
On the other hand, NATO's geographical expansion process; by some researchers; the continuation of this organization as a mechanism that maintains military and political cooperation between the USA and Europe, the protection of the USA as a means of penetrating European security, the consolidation of the American presence and influence in Central and Eastern Europe, the potential for the post-Cold War bipolar world. It has been interpreted as the consolidation of the military potential of the West against the seeming Eastern threat. For some, NATO's enlargement policy could have rekindled Russia's skepticism towards an encirclement against it. As a matter of fact, as we will mention later, it can be said that behind Russia's interventions in Georgia and Ukraine lies the "security dilemma" syndrome, which arises from the enlargement of NATO.
Necessary changes were made in NATO's command and force structures as a requirement of NATO concepts that changed over time, together with NATO activities after 1990, internal evaluations and the participation of new members in the alliance. While transitioning to a more functional structure, the number of headquarters at the NATO command level and therefore the number of permanent personnel has been reduced. In a way, while the number of NATO members has increased, the size of the forces and headquarters has been reduced. As a result of the restructuring, Allied Command Transformation (ACT) was established in Norfolk, USA, in order to best focus NATO on future operational and training needs. The mission of Allied Command Europe SHAPE in Belgium has been transformed into Allied Command Operations (ACO). The NATO Response Force (NRF) has been established as a core joint military ready force with the Corps Headquarters, which has a high readiness capability, so that NATO can respond immediately to any crisis. In addition, the policy of countering undesired air violations has been adopted by the Baltic Air Policing policy since March 2004, by deploying a force of four warplanes alternately from the Alliance member states to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which do not have warplanes.
While NATO puts the coordination, partnership, enlargement, membership and cooperation mechanisms into action, it has considered it an imperative duty to intervene in some crises that have emerged in Europe within the framework of United Nations resolutions. In this context, with the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the first crisis emerged in Bosnia and Herzegovina. with the United Nation Within the framework of the decision taken by the parties, NATO started patrol duties in the no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina, effective from 12 August 1993. Four Serbian planes that violated the ban were shot down by NATO warplanes on February 28, 1994, this alliance's first "de facto war intervention". During the Srebrenica massacre, a two-week NATO bombardment (Operation Decisive Force) was carried out against the Serbs. With the Dayton Agreement of 14 December 1995, the actual conflicts ended. Then NATO; continued its peace support duties in this region, and transferred this responsibility to the European Union Althea Force in December 2004.
NATO; In order to protect the Albanians in Kosovo from Serbian attacks, he bombarded the Yugoslav military forces from the air for a total of 78 days between March 24 and June 3, 1999, and ensured the acceptance of peace terms in Kosovo by the Serbian leader Milosevic.
Massacres in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo within the borders of Europe; They are inhuman crimes perpetrated by Serbs, a member of European civilization. Serbian attacks that caused countless human dramas; Although it was late in most cases, it was eventually stopped by NATO intervention and a certain level of peace was achieved. We can say that this situation has reinforced the need for this alliance in the eyes of all of Europe and the rest of the world.
The change in the security environment in the international system has also changed the security needs of actors such as all nation-states and international organizations in the international system, including NATO. As a requirement of this change in the security environment, NATO had to update its security understanding and develop appropriate strategies and concepts to counter possible threats and risks. As a matter of fact, as we have stated before, the first conceptual change after the Cold War was made in 1991.
The events with the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the rising risks such as terrorism observed in the security environment required NATO to revise its current concept in 1999. In this context, the strategy of the Cold War era, which was based on deterrence with nuclear weapons, was shelved, instead, a new concept was updated for structures based on international terrorism-oriented strategies of the post-Cold War era, and then against attacks in the cyber world. With the 1999 concept; political, economic, social and environmental factors are highlighted, the problems that the alliance is expected to deal with, the risks that may arise from internal political instability such as political pressure, human rights violations, religious and ethnic conflicts and economic problems, migration and the prevention of access to vital resources, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. , terrorism and organized crime are defined in the concept in detail.
As can be seen, by the end of the 1990s, the Alliance has become a dynamic organization that has gained a structure that can show the flexibility to renew itself in every situation according to new security conditions and needs.
In our next article, we will continue to examine the developments in the world since the September 11 attacks from the perspective of NATO.
Utilized references:
Şahin G. (2016). Global Security and NATO, Detay Publishing, Ankara
Jafarov S. (2007). Russia-NATO Relations from Past to Present, Ezgi Bookstore, Bursa
Journal of Defense and Aviation. (2001). Interview with Chief of General Staff General Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu, Mönch Türkiye Publishing, Vol 15, No 20613, pp.8-25.