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Fall 2017 JPI

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and universal standards, doctrine, and procedures. 13 This is what makes NATO novel as an alliance,<br />

and why it transcends the test of time; It is an institution more than it is an alliance, which is why it is<br />

important that it be studied as such. In the chapter titled “The Mechanisms of NATO Adaptation,”<br />

within the timely and masterful book How NATO Adapts by Seth A. Johnston, he writes: “institutions<br />

structure power relations among actors. But institutions may also themselves be actors. The politics<br />

of institutional adaptation involve power relations among the members of an institution.” 14<br />

In other words, every individual NATO member-state acts according to its interests,<br />

constituents, and laws. However, Johnston demonstrates that this notion contributes to the alliance<br />

more than it damages it, as opposed to an inference as viewed by those who believe that NATO is<br />

approaching extinction. 15<br />

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF NATO, AND THE LIBERAL WORLD ORDER?<br />

American foreign policy is the principal driver of the plenitude of multilateral institutions,<br />

especially in NATO. 16 The North Atlantic Treaty was devised enable the coordination the United<br />

States and its European allies to act as a defense against the seeming threat posed by the Soviet Union,<br />

and its communist philosophy primarily. 17 At the time, the mutual concerns among NATO members<br />

centered on the preservation of democracy and the collapse of communism, which according to<br />

Morgenthau undergird the alliance. 18 It’s apparent that communism is no longer a clear threat, and<br />

this can be taken to mean that NATO has lost its value in the international arena. 19 In Washington,<br />

many foreign policy experts continue to promulgate the perception that a Cold War still endures,<br />

though, no longer is it a war of ideas, but a war of geopolitics. 20 Albeit, many European capitals seem<br />

to believe to the contrary, as captured in the ardent address by former French President Nicolas<br />

Sarkozy’s at the United Nations General Assembly when serving as President of the European Union:<br />

Europe does not want war. It does not want a war of civilizations. It does not want<br />

a war of religions. It does not want a cold war. Europe wants peace, and peace is<br />

always possible when one truly wants it. What Europe is telling Russia is that we<br />

want links with Russia, that we want to build a shared future with Russia, we want<br />

to be Russia’s partner. Why not build a continent-wide common economic space<br />

which would unite Europe and Russia? 21<br />

Following that 2008 speech by Sarkozy, we have examined an uptick of economic interdependence<br />

linking European states and Russia, primarily in energy. 22 Geography plays a significant role in the<br />

irregularities in foreign policy that emerge from that of Europe and the United States. 23 Our world is<br />

fashioned not simply by politics, war, and peace - but also by geography. 24 Our planet’s geophysical<br />

13 Ibid.<br />

14 Seth A. Johnston, How NATO Adapts: Strategy and Organization in the Atlantic Alliance Since 1950 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University<br />

Press, <strong>2017</strong>).<br />

15 Robert J. Art, "Creating a Disaster: NATO's Open Door Policy," Political Science Quarterly: The Journal of Public and International Affairs 131, no.<br />

2 (Summer 2016): , doi:10.1002/polq.12472.<br />

16 Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (New York, NY: Routledge, 2002).<br />

17 Jamie P. Shea, NATO 2000: A Political Agenda for a Political Alliance, ed. Nicholas Sherwen (London: Brassey's, 1990).<br />

18 Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (New York: Mc Graw Hill, 1993).<br />

19 Tom Sauer, "Take It from a European: NATO Is Obsolete," The National Interest, February 22, <strong>2017</strong>, accessed May 02, <strong>2017</strong>,<br />

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/take-it-european-nato-obsolete-19537.<br />

20 Walter Russell Mead, "The Return of Geopolitics," Foreign Affairs, September 15, 2015, accessed May 07, <strong>2017</strong>,<br />

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2014-04-17/return-geopolitics.<br />

21 Nikolas Sarkozy, "63rd Session of UN General Assembly," United Nations, September 23, 2008, accessed May 03, <strong>2017</strong>,<br />

http://www.un.org/ga/63/generaldebate/france.shtml.<br />

22 http://www.gazpromexport.ru/en/statistics/<br />

23 Tim Marshall, Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World (New York, NY: Scribner Book Company, 2016).<br />

24 Ibid.<br />

<strong>JPI</strong> <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2017</strong>, pg. 15

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