Does NATO have a future? Should it? That depends in large measure on what one thinks NATO is all about, especially now that it is no longer about defending the Fulda Gap. Some observers see the Alliance as a military “tool kit” for the United States. Others regard it as a political organization on which the United States can rely – or at least should be able to rely – for official support when it undertakes controversial missions abroad. Doubtless these are important functions, but NATO serves other purposes as well, or at least it ought to. Among these other purposes is the provision of a military framework for mutual defense against external aggressors and, at least since the 1990s, for united efforts to punish rogue leaders or bring peace to war-torn regions. These are valuable collective resources and ones that would be difficult to replace – or to rebuild.

NATO is not a “coalition of the willing”; it is an alliance. It is a military club, and the members of that club have certain military obligations toward one another. During the run-up to the Iraq War, the government of the United States made a considered judgment to downgrade those obligations – to trade away pressure on the newer NATO members to upgrade their military capabilities and competences – in exchange for displays of political loyalty to Washington in the United Nations and elsewhere.