1. The Opposite Attraction
between Mars and Venus:
Sustaining NATO for European and American Security
by Hannah-Sophie Wahle
2. Background on NATO
• Founded on April 4, 1949 by
12 countries
• Article V: An attack against
one member is an attack
against all
• Purpose: " Keep the
Americans in, the Russians
out and the Germans down"
3. Theoretical
Framework
• Realism: Anarchy, sovereign states, distrust,
balance-of-power, relative gains, competition
• Liberalism: Cooperation, institutionalization,
information exchange
• Democratic Peace Theory: Democracies
never fight each other
5. Nationalism
• European inward look on domestic issues to
focus on EU institution building
• U.S. focus on intervention and global player
• Gaullism: French attempts for independent
security
• France withdrew in 1966
6. Power
• Historically: U.S. isolationism vs. European
colonialism and Machtpolitk
• Now: American hegemony vs. European
tiredness of war
• Refusal of ICC and Kyoto Protocol vs. EU
institution building
• Power as dominance vs. power as a role
model
7. Governance
• Colin Powell in 1988: "where you have sixteen
nations, all each sovereign, there will be
differences and there will be heated debate
and discussion from time to time"
• Consensus-Building model encounters
difficulty in NATO with its current 28 members
• Proposals for flexible response and bilateral
agreements under NATo umbrella
8. Burden Sharing
• Eastern European members
have less resources to offer
and Western European
countries were depleted by
WWII
• Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates warns about the
discontent of U.S. taxpayers
who support Europe's free ride
• Robert Kagan describes the
labor division as the "U.S.
making the dinner and the
Europeans washing the dishes"
9. Inequalities Explained
• The Cold War and interventions lead to the
U.S. military build up
• Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) limits
European state's budget deficit to 3%
• U.S. views Europe as protectorate, not
competitor
• Intangible non-military assets -such as soft
skills, information and decision-making efforts,
and diplomacy -are less factored in
10. Expansion
• Eastern European countries to
join the greater Europe and be
shielded from any return to
Communism
• Combined Joint Task Force
(CJTF) and Partnership for Peace
overlap with non-NATO, non-EU
states and cause the loss of
oversights and differences in
objectives
• Would NATO risk NYC for
Warsaw or New Delhi?
11. European Failure to Establish
Independent Security
• The French-German Army, Western Union Defense
Organization, the Berlin-Plus Agreement, the European
Security and Defense Identity (ESDP), the Common
Security and Defense Policy (CSDP)
• Comfort under U.S. security umbrella
• Lack of unity in Europe and strength of sovereignty
• Absence of a European leader due to rotating presidency
12. The Russian Question
• Can Russia be trusted already?
• Does Russia even want to be part of NATO?
• Would Russia be more aggressive if denied?
13. NATO, Kosovo &
Libya
• Kosovo: Europe excelled
at peace-building efforts
after the end of the war
• Libya: Wide European
intervention especially by
France and England, but
there was no coherent
European action
14. Reasons for NATO's
Endurance
UNITED STATES EUROPEAN MEMBERS
Presence in Europe Use of U.S. capabilities
Europe "Whole and free"
Building of welfare state
(Marshall Plan)
Use of Europe's diplomatic
Limited defense spending
efforts
Unilateralism and
Peacebuilder
hegemony
Legitimacy Protection
