How NATO is shaping up at 70
How NATO is shaping up at 70
The Atlantic alliance has proved remarkably resilient, says Daniel Franklin. To remain relevant, it needs to go on changingREACHING 70 IS an extraordinary achievement for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Most alliances die young. External threats change; national interests diverge; costs become too burdensome. Russia’s pact with Nazi Germany survived for only two years. None of the seven coalitions of the Napoleonic wars lasted more than five years. A study in 2010 by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank, counted 63 major military alliances over the previous five centuries, of which just ten lived beyond 40; the average lifespan of collective-defence alliances was 15 years.This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “Mature reflection”From the March 16th 2019 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition