In recent decades, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has played a critical role in promoting transatlantic relations, developing multilateral capabilities, improving allied interoperability, and leading multilateral crisis management operations.
Yet despite this, given current austerity and the end of NATO’s largest ever operation in Afghanistan, important questions are being raised regarding NATO’s future priorities. While all member states are quick to underscore the importance of NATO, given limited resources, tough choices must be made regarding the alliance’s emerging roles and responsibilities.
The US and the Americas programme has been engaging with the future structure and role of NATO since 2013, conducting roundtables with officials from NATO and its member states along with external observers, and publishing a major report on NATO’s future shortly before the 2014 Wales summit.
In the wake of the summit, the US and the Americas programme has been holding additional roundtables to give observers from member states a forum to discuss how to best encourage their governments to implement the deliverables agreed at the summit.
This project is supported by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, and the Canadian Department of National Defence.