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Reflections on 9/11: A View from NATO

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NATO beyond 9/11

Part of the book series: New Security Challenges ((NSECH))

Abstract

On the evening of 9/11, a few individuals from NATO’s International Staff got together to discuss how NATO should respond to the massive attacks on the United States that had occurred just a few hours earlier. Not yet knowing the full scope of the attacks, let alone their perpetrators, the discussion quickly boiled down to one major question: should the allies invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, NATO’s collective defence commitment, thereby giving the strongest political signal of solidarity that sovereign nations can give each other? Most members of that small group supported such a decision. If this was not a clear case for the ultimate expression of transatlantic solidarity, what else was? NATO could not be seen as dithering, or else it would lose its credibility as a serious defence organization.

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Notes

  1. For an early (pessimistic) post-9/11 assessment see François Heisbourg, ‘Europe and the Transformation of the World Order’, Paper prepared for the IISS/CEPS European Security Forum, Brussels, 5 November, 2001;

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  2. Charles Grant, ‘Does this war show that NATO no longer has a serious military role?’, The Independent, 16 October 2001.

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  3. For a more optimistic perspective see Philip H. Gordon, ‘NATO After 11 September’, Survival, Vol.43(4), Winter 2002, pp. 1–18.

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  4. For various sources see Paul E. Gallis, ‘Kosovo: Lessons Learned from Operation Allied Force, Congressional Research Service’, 19 November 1999;

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  5. John R. Schmidt, ‘Last Alliance Standing? NATO after 9/11’, The Washington Quarterly, Vol.30(1), Winter 2007, pp. 93–106.

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  6. For an overview of optimist and pessimist views about NATO’s longevity see Wallace J. Thies, Why NATO Endures (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

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  7. Even before 9/11 the Realist School of International Relations was predicting NATO’s drift into irrelevance, see Kenneth N. Waltz, ‘Structural Realism after the Cold War’, International Security, Vol.25(1), Summer 2000, pp. 5–41.

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  8. See Richard E. Rupp, NATO after 9/11: An Alliance in Continuing Decline (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006);

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  9. Thomas L. Friedman, ‘The End Of NATO?’, New York Times, 3 February 2002;

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  10. Daniel Korski and Michael Williams, ‘The End of NATO and the Danger of US Unilateralism, RUSI Transatlantic Programme Briefing’, 8 February 2008.

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  11. See Michael Rühle, ‘NATO after Prague: Learning the Lessons of 9/11’, Parameters, Vol.33(2) Summer 2003, pp. 93–94.

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  12. And predictably sparked another wave of ‘declinist’ articles; see Ivo Daalder, ‘The End of Atlanticism’, Survival, Vol. 45(2) (Summer 2003), pp. 147–166;

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© 2013 Michael Rühle

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Rühle, M. (2013). Reflections on 9/11: A View from NATO. In: Hallams, E., Ratti, L., Zyla, B. (eds) NATO beyond 9/11. New Security Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230391222_3

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