Don’t Forget About NATO: It May Be Our Only Hope

By: Claire Parsons

The United States’ reign as the most powerful state in the world is coming to an end. Whether you like it or not, the Western shift away from globalized politics appears to be the last nail in the coffin for the American empire. It was hammered in by a rise of right-wing isolationism, an ideology where countries put themselves first without regard for others. This is a dramatic pivot away from the era of post-WW2 installations of liberal democracies and a rise of international organizations. Political pendulums swing, and now it is time for the pendulum to swing from West to East. Luckily, one of those post-WW2 installations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, better known by its shorthand NATO, is strong enough to keep the pendulum stationary for now. The decline of the US has been parallel with the effective and steady rise of other world powers on the international stage. Russia and China have taken advantage of this decline by sharpening their military, cyber capabilities, and economic footholds around the world. They are also making strategic political decisions to encourage global isolationism, infiltrating democratic elections, backing populist and isolationist politicians without challenge. As a reward, they have received glowing reviews from the likes of President Donald Trump, setting Russia and China up to be the next world leaders. The two authoritarian states are deeply motivated by their own state interests, have horrendous human rights records, and aren’t exactly darlings in the eyes of the more stable sections of the international community. Without US intervention, many are worried that this Russo-Chinese lead future is inevitable and that the international community will soon be under the thumb of red handed dictators. I would argue otherwise. NATO, the greatest defence against authoritarian global powers, remains intact. The political and military alliance was founded specifically to maintain the stability of the international community after World War II and was designed to “Keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”. Today, NATO has 30 member states and spent years strengthening deterrence and defence actions. They also opened their own Joint Intelligence and Security Division in 2017. It is the best defence we have against the new threat of an insular and state-first world. With combined support from the US, UK, and France, it also has the nuclear punch to combat the nuclear arsenals of Russia and China. To be clear, NATO is not the best defence against Russia and China because it is a Eurocentric organization dominated by Western thinkers with the goal to spread Liberal democracy. While NATO is not flawless and it should not take the place of an international global power, It is the best defence against the rise of isolationism because it was designed to be. NATO was instrumental during the proxy warfare of the Cold War era and remains a vital instrument in UN peacekeeping, nuclear stability and, most recently, political stability in multiple global regions. NATO has evolved beyond a collective European army to an elaborate and complex intelligence and political organization. Just earlier this year, NATO was instrumental in establishing military talks between Greece and Turkey after conflicts arose in the area around Cyprus in the eastern Medditeranean. This is the third time in 50 years the two states have almost gone to war over the Cyprus area but due to NATO’s influence, military talks are now beginning. Some have argued that NATO isn’t the perfect plan to settle China and Russia, but it doesn’t have to be. The threat from the United States to pull out of the organization unless members pay their fair share has analysts worried that NATO will lose its weight. But the organization retains the might of the UK and France, two mass nuclear powers that have not entertained leaving the organization. Analysts have also questioned whether NATO is able to redefine its mission to counter the authoritarian threat. However, it begs the question: Has NATO really changed its mission at all? The point of NATO is to prevent authoritarian states from gaining ground in the international community. Russia and China are textbook NATO cases. Concerning the critique that NATO is simply not politically mature enough to handle China, I would argue that NATO is the only body able to properly negotiate with China since it is not subject to the economic pressures and debt that the rest of the world is . NATO has invested in their intelligence measures and is closely allied with Five Eyes, the prestigious alliance between the US, UK, France, Australia, and New Zealand. With an augmented defence plan and NATO’s new political prowess, they are our best shot. NATO is a mature, developing, and precise organization not subject to the deadlocking of the United Nations Security Council or sanction chokeholds. It was meant to take down authoritarian states and is one of the last strong globalist organizations capable of parrying the growth of Russia and China as world leaders. Don’t forget about NATO just because the Cold War is over, mainly due to the fact the Cold War never ended. Russia and China are just different threats then they were back then. Luckily, so is NATO.