Tři čtvrtě století NATO: Lekce poučné, znepokojivé i zapomenuté
NATO at 75: Instructive, Disturbing and Forgotten Lessons

Summary/Abstract: This essay considers crucial moments in the development, transformations, and prospects of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over the seventy-five years of its existence, while taking into account the traditions of United States foreign policy as well as the current geopolitical and security challenges facing the Alliance, particularly the Russian war against Ukraine. The author first traces the Alliance’s origins in the context of the accelerating Cold War in 1949, when traditional American reluctance to commit to Europe was overcome and a political and security union was established, one that from the outset rested on the shared values of democracy, the rule of law, and individual freedom. The author take sissue with conventional wisdom as to how the Alliance contributed to peace and stability during the Cold War and in the aftermath, in particular with regard to the German question. The text examines in detail the nuclear dimension of the Alliance’s functioning, debates on the reliability of U.S. guarantees, and European members’ efforts to strengthen their own influence within the Atlantic community. The author discusses crises of cohesion and challenges to the US leadership, triggered, for example, by the sovereignty policy of French President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s, or later changes in strategic concepts that enabled the Alliance to remain effective over the long term. It also reflects on counterfactual debates about NATO enlargement in the 1990s and their relationship to the current security situationin Eastern Europe. In conclusion, the author emphasizes that the future weight of the Alliance depends on its ability to act in a unified and convincing manner, both towards its own members and towards external actors. The defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty and the country’s anchoring in Euro-Atlantic structures is a test that will fundamentally influence not only the fate of Ukraine itself, but also the relevance of the North Atlantic Alliance in the twenty-first century.

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