Modern Europe Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Modern Europe - Research Paper Example The issue of whether or not the NATO is still a relevant organization can be resolved by assessing the organization’s ability to protect and ensure security and peace when it is most needed. With the global reach of activities which disturb the peace and security, the efficacy of the NATO seems to depend on the degree to which a more extensive application of its overall goals can be established and supported (Michta, 2007). Even as the NATO is considered an organization of equal states (with equal authority) who apply a consensus in their decision-making processes, the organization seems to function based on the extent of United States participation in these decisions. The security policy objectives of the US are important policies for the NATO (Michta, 2007). Its future efficacy largely depends on whether the European members will consider sharing common priorities with the Americans and whether these members will accept the related risks to such sharing. In the contemporary scene, it is important to consider the extent to which NATO supports such goals and the extent to which it has failed. NATO’s current dilemma exemplifies the looming issues in the current operations, mostly in the continuing armed issues with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. (Michta, 2007). The questions on NATO’s efficacy come from its failure to implement similar expansion activities it implemented during the 1990s in terms of military capability. Such a failure also comes from the missed opportunities after the September 11 attacks and the intercontinental political gaps over Iraq. Despite the shared contempt for any and all terrorist attacks, the US and the European states have still not agreed on how to respond to terrorist and other forms of attacks (Daalder and O’Haanlon, 2001). Attempts to resolve these differences in perceptions have not been successful. As a result, countries like France, Germany, and other European states still have differing opinions with the US in terms of methods which address the terrorist issue and other securi ty problems. The NATO is currently unstable because the end of the Cold War threat in the 1990s caused a gridlock on what the organization’s main mission should then be (The Economist, 2011). NATO established that it needed to consider partnerships, expansions, and enhancement of capabilities; however, the organization cannot seem to act as a united organization in terms of what its main security mission today is. The visions for NATO seem to be competing with each other, and these competing visions are not likely to be settled or resolved via the Continental security approach being advocated by France, Belgium and Germany (Michta, 2007). While the European members have supported NATO’s operations, the scope and the quality of the missions seems to be vague. Moreover, the EU’s goals to establish the European Security and Defense Policy have also impacted on the NATO’