What is NATO, who are its members and when does it operate?

(CNN) — NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, its full name, is a non-aggressive European and North American defense alliance created to promote peace and stability and protect the security of its members.

The organization, which is based in Brussels, Belgium, was created at the height of the Cold War. Its purpose was to protect the countries of Western Europe from the threat posed by the Soviet Union and to counter the spread of communism after World War II.

In April 1949, its 12 founders—the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and eight other European countries—signed the North Atlantic Treaty, pledging to protect each other through political and military means.

Since then, the coalition has grown: today it has 31 members. In alphabetical order, they are: Albania, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United States, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey.

Since the end of the Cold War, more than a dozen former Eastern Bloc countries have joined the alliance, including three former Soviet republics. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia continues to view NATO as a threat. Amid recent tensions with the West, Russia sought concrete assurances that there would be no further expansion of the alliance, which NATO members have opposed.

However, since May 2022, the announcement of support for NATO by the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, and the Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, has led to greater tensions between NATO and Russia.

In April 2023, Finland’s entry into the alliance was made official, while Sweden’s accession was approved in July of the same year after Turkey lifted its blockade over that decision.

For a country to be accepted into the alliance, all 31 NATO members must unanimously approve.

What does NATO’s collective defense doctrine mean?

Despite major geopolitical changes that have occurred since NATO’s founding, its purpose remains the same. The main principle on which the alliance is based is that of collective defence: “An armed attack against one or several of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against all of them.”

The principle of collective defense is enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. This ensures that alliance-wide resources can be used to protect any member nation. This is important for many small countries, who would be helpless without their allies. For example, Iceland has no standing army.

Since the United States is NATO’s largest and most powerful member, any state in the alliance is effectively under the protection of the United States.

In fact, the first and only time Article 5 was invoked against the United States was after the September 11, 2001 attacks; As a result, NATO allies joined the invasion of Afghanistan.

However, NATO has also taken action on other occasions.

It initiated collective defense measures in 1991 when it deployed Patriot missiles during the Gulf War, in 2003 amid the Iraq crisis, and in 2012 in response to the situation in Syria.

All three were based on Turkiye’s requests.

Does NATO have its own army?

No, NATO depends on the force contribution of its member states, meaning it is essentially only as strong as each country’s individual armies. It is in the interests of the entire alliance to ensure that each country devotes adequate resources to its defense.

This has been one of the main points of friction in the alliance, with the United States and the United Kingdom often criticizing other member states for not contributing their fair share.

Since NATO’s founding in 1949, US military spending has always outpaced the budgets of other allies. But the gap widened when the United States increased its spending after the 9/11 attacks.

According to NATO guidelines, every country should spend 2% of its GDP on defense, but most countries are not meeting that target.

Former US President Donald Trump was particularly vocal on the issue, demanding that European countries do more and at one point, even suggesting that they should repay the United States for its past losses. “Give back”.

According to NATO’s most recent projections, seven member states – Greece, the United States, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania and France – will reach the 2% target in 2021.

Still, this is a significant improvement. In 2014, only the US, UK and Greece were spending more than 2%.

At that time, all member states below the threshold committed to increasing military spending to reach the target within a decade. Most are keeping their promises.

How has NATO’s mission changed over time?

NATO grew and expanded after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Its members have since worked as peacekeepers in Bosnia, fought against human trafficking and deployed to intercept refugees in the Mediterranean.

The alliance is also responding to new ways in which the conflict may evolve, for example by creating a cyber defense center in Estonia.

CNN’s Frederick Pleitjen and Nadine Schmidt contributed to this report.

This report was originally published in July 2023 and has been updated.