THE VERTICAL EXPANSION OF NATO'S ROLE THROUGH STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS
THE VERTICAL EXPANSION OF NATO'S ROLE THROUGH STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS

Summary/Abstract: During its 76 years of existence, NATO has gone through a specific evolutionary process. From an alliance for collective defense during the Cold War, to an alliance without a clear threat after the Cold War, NATO expanded its area of action with the defense and protection of the shared values of the peoples of the North Atlantic region, based on the principles of democracy, individual freedoms, and the rule of law. Following Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine, NATO has once again refocused on its core mission of deterrence and defense. This paper focuses on explaining the process of transformation of NATO’s identity and the elements characterizing NATO’s contemporary identity. A qualitative and historical-interpretative method is used to trace the main processes in order to analyze the main research problem: the transformation of NATO’s identity from a traditional collective security organization during the Cold War into a broader security community after 1991. NATO, as a case study, is analyzed across multiple historical periods. The fundamental assumption is that NATO transformed its identity through activities aimed at defining its role and activities aimed at maintaining that role, in order to avoid discreditation.

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