Everyone has heard of this intergovernmental international organization and the world's largest military-political alliance today. The collective security of the participating countries is the main principle of the activity of the alliance called NATO. The list of countries included in it currently includes 28 states. All of them are located exclusively in two parts of the world - in North America and in Europe.
Goals, objectives and structure of the organization
NATO (abbreviation of the English "North Atlantic Treaty Organization") is an international organization of the countries of Europe and North America. The main goal of the military-political alliance is to ensure the freedom and military security of all member countries of the alliance. All activities of this structure are based on democratic values and freedoms, as well as on the principles of the rule of law.
The organization is based on the principle of collective security of states. In other words, if there isaggression or military intervention in one of the member countries of the alliance, other NATO members are obliged to jointly respond to this military threat. Also, the activity of the alliance is manifested in the regular holding of joint military exercises of the armies of the participating countries.
The structure of the organization is represented by three main bodies. This is:
- North Atlantic Council;
- Defense Planning Committee;
- Nuclear Planning Committee.
NATO member countries cooperate not only in the military field, but also in other areas of society, such as ecology, science, emergencies and so on.
An integral part of the work of the alliance are consultations between its members. So, any decision is made only on the basis of consensus. That is, each of the participating countries must vote for one or another decision of the organization. Sometimes the discussion of certain issues drags on for a long time, but almost always NATO managed to reach a consensus.
The history of the creation and expansion of the alliance
The formation of a military-political alliance began almost immediately after the end of World War II. Historians name two main reasons that forced the heads of the leading powers to think about a new security system. The first is the threat of a revenge of the Nazi movements in post-war Germany, and the second is the active spread by the Soviet Union of its influence on the countries of Eastern and Central Europe.
As a result, on April 4, 1949, the so-calledThe North Atlantic Treaty, which laid the foundation for the formation of a new alliance under the acronym NATO. The list of countries that signed this document consisted of 12 states. They were the USA, Canada, France, Portugal, Norway, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Iceland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It is they who are considered the founders of this powerful military-political bloc.
In subsequent years, other states joined the NATO bloc. The largest addition to the alliance took place in 2004, when 7 Eastern European states became new members of NATO. At present, the geography of the alliance continues to move east. So, recently, the heads of such countries as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine spoke about their intention to join NATO.
It should be noted that during the Cold War, the image of NATO was deliberately demonized by Soviet propaganda. The USSR artificially made the alliance its main enemy. This explains the rather low support for the bloc's policy in a number of post-Soviet states.
NATO: list of countries and geography of the alliance
What are the states that are part of this international organization today? So, all NATO countries (for 2014) are listed below in chronological order of their entry into the alliance:
- United States of America;
- Canada;
- France;
- Portugal;
- Kingdom of Norway;
- Kingdom of Belgium;
- UK;
- Kingdom of Denmark;
- Italy;
- Iceland;
- Netherlands;
- Duchy of Luxembourg;
- Turkey;
- GreekRepublic;
- Federal Republic of Germany;
- Spain;
- Republic of Poland;
- Czech Republic;
- Hungary;
- Republic of Bulgaria;
- Romania;
- Slovakia;
- Slovenia;
- Estonia;
- Latvia;
- Lithuania;
- Croatia;
- Republic of Albania.
The military-political union includes exclusively European countries, as well as two states of North America. Below you can see how all NATO countries are located on the world map.
In closing
April 4, 1949 - this date can be considered the starting point in the history of an international organization under the acronym NATO. The list of countries that are included in it is slowly but steadily growing. As of 2015, 28 states are members of the alliance. It is quite possible that in the near future the organization will be replenished with new member countries.
