Abstract:

After the Second World War, NATO, which played a major role in ensuring collective security within the Western Alliance, forming a common ability to act on the Western front, and ending international problems or internal conflicts, has undergone a great transformation from the past to the present. In the face of structural changes in the international system, changing threat perception and the security environment, NATO has had to revise its mission definition at certain periods. During the Cold War, NATO’s corporate identity, strategic missions, and operational capacity were more prominent than in the post-war period. NATO, which gave its first serious test at the end of the Cold War, has defined new strategic missions to maintain its presence in the multipolar international system and contribute to ensuring collective security in the Western Alliance and stability in the international system. Having managed to revise itself within the New World Order, NATO has achieved successful results in solving global problems, ensuring unity and harmony within the European continent, and expanding its sphere of influence within the framework of enlargement policies. After the terrorist events of September 11, changes in American foreign policy decisions, a change in the global understanding of the threat or the direction of competitors have also begun to have an impact within the Transatlantic Alliance. In this study, the changing institutional mission of NATO from the past to the present, the role it plays in the Transatlantic Alliance, the criticisms made against the NATO military organization and the discussions on the future of the Western Alliance will be included. The NATO strategic mission and capacity, which are formed within the framework of structural changes in the international system, will be included as well in the scope of this study. In this study, qualitative research techniques will be implemented by using methodological pluralism and historical comparative research methods.

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