NATO is a military and political alliance of 28 countries. NATO is committed to ensuring the security of its member states and the efficient implementation of the collective defence principle as NATO’s main function.
Estonia joined NATO in 2004.
NATO’s central structure and NATO’s military structure are contributing to the co-ordination and implementation of NATO member states’ activities, as NATO’s policy papers are fully issued by the member states under consensus arrangement.
NATO pursues the following strategic headline documents in its activities:
The Washington Treaty
The treaty that established the alliance and sets out the rights and responsibilities of its members states in NATO on a more general bases.
NATO’s Strategic Concept 2010
A broad strategic document, which identifies the strategic development trends of the alliance.
Comprehensive Political Guide for Defence Ministers 2006
A document that specifies the strategic concept in a mid-term perspective.
How Does NATO Work?
NATO relies on the capacities of its member states. As the development and maintenance of military capacities is highly expensive, the number of countries capable of developing all the required capacities independently is rather limited.
However, there is also no dire need for that. Each NATO member state can only focus on the most important and affordable capacities – considering the specifics of the county concerned – while being assured that the other countries shall ensure the availability of other capacities should the need arise.
Therefore, each member state shall only invest into certain capacities. In the case of a military conflict, the army contingent that matches the nature of a specific conflict can be deployed, using the capacities of the members of alliance. Therefore, the capacities of NATO are pooled to be deployed by NATO should the need arise.
NATO’s operation in Afghanistan, for example, consists of contributions from different allies. This means that NATO’s strategic commanders have identified NATO’s needs for the implementation of the operation in Afghanistan and the allies, in turn, have allocated some realistic capacities to match the needs and have placed them under NATO’s command. According to the principles pursued by NATO, the expenses allocated to NATO in relation to the development and use of the capacities will be born by the owner of such capacities.
NATO as an Organisation
NATO mostly involves two elements:
- the representations of member states and partner states;
- NATO staff (NATO’s central structure and NATO staffs and commands).
NATO applies the principle of consensus at every command level. This means that no decision can be adopted unless all the member states agree. Therefore, NATO is rather unique as an organisation, as even the smallest allies have the exceptional opportunity of making their voice heard and can take an active part in devising the strategic and routine policies of the alliance.
Representations of countries at NATO
The representations of countries form the policies of the alliance and define the decisions, which will be implemented by NATO staffs in accordance with political guidelines.
The North-Atlantic Council
In NATO, the highest power is held by the North-Atlantic Council, which includes all the representatives of the member states. The Council devises NATO’s policies and directs the activities of the whole alliance. The Council shall meet on a regular basis at the level of ambassadors, less frequently for heads of state, and, as a general rule, three times a year at level of defence ministers.
NATO’s Military Committee
NATO’s Military Committee, which consists of the commanders of armed forces of the allies, was established to provide the military advice the North-Atlantic Council needs to adopt decisions and to undertake the implementation of the military level decisions of the Council.
The Principles of Estonia’s NATO Politics
Estonia is a full member of NATO and exercises all the obligations and rights that arise from its member status.
The Ministry of Defence shall observe the following principles when devising its NATO policies:
-
NATO must be strong as a whole. This means that the capacities available to NATO must be sufficient to ensure the deterring of any aggressor.
-
NATO’s capacity development efforts must consider the collective defence needs both within NATO territory and those of the current and possible future operations outside of NATO territory. The capacities developed must be deployable in both situations.
-
Estonia’s military contribution to NATO capacity planning must rely on the initial independent defence capacity and NATO’s collective defence requirements.
-
NATO’s capacity development must be outstanding and credible. NATO’s presence must be visible in the territory of the whole alliance.
Examples of NATO’s Common Capacity Development
NATO’s Response Forces (NRF)
NATO’s Response Forces are ready to enter a source of conflict at 15,000 kilometres from Brussels in 5 to 30 days’ notice and implement operations of a different nature. It is important to know that the NATO Response Forces are not a ready-made unit, but a pool of capacities that are ready to respond, and the unit will be formed based on the required capacities.
Estonia has participated in the activities of the NATO Response Forces since 2005. From May 2010, Estonia will contribute an infantry company, as part of the Baltic Battalion, to the Response Forces.
The member states are practising military co-operation. Every member state is also under obligation to invest into the modernisation of its troops.
Read more about the NATO Response Forces from NATO’s website »
Common Surveillance System of the allies
The establishment of a common surveillance system is an example of pooling the resources of member states to create a highly expensive capacity, which a single member state could never afford. The need for such a surveillance system is very big – this would be needed both to increase NATO’s general military capacities and to launch operations outside of NATO territory. The creation of a common surveillance system will directly contribute to increasing the strength of the alliance as a whole, incl. the protection of NATO’s own territory.
Read more about the Common Surveillance System of the allies here »
Strategic Airlift Initiative
NATO’s strategic airlift initiative will give the participating countries an opportunity to make use of strategic airlift capacities. Strategic airlift is a capacity, which many of the member states could not afford on their own.
Read more about the Strategic Airlift Initiative here »
Social Media