{{Infobox Organization
| name            = North Atlantic Treaty Organization<br/><small>Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord</small>
| image           = Flag of NATO.svg
| caption         = Flag of NATO<ref></ref>.
| map             = Location NATO.svg
| mcaption        = NATO countries shown in green.
| type            = Military alliance
| headquarters    = Brussels, Belgium 
| membership_type = Member states
| membership      = 
| language        = English<br>French<ref>"English and French shall be the official languages for the entire North Atlantic Treaty Organization.", [http://www.nato.int/docu/comm/49-95/c490917a.htm Final Communiqué following the meeting of the North Atlantic Council on September 17, 1949]. "(..)the English and French texts [of the Treaty] are equally authentic(...)"[http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/treaty.htm#Art14 The North Atlantic Treaty, Article 14]</ref> 
| leader_title    = Secretary General
| leader_name     = Jaap de Hoop Scheffer 
| leader_title2   = Chairman of the Military Committee
| leader_name2    = Giampaolo Di Paola
| formation       = 4 April 1949 
| website         = <div class="plainlinksneverexpand">http://www.nato.int/</div> 
}}

240px|thumb|NATO 2002 Summit in [[Prague.]]
<!-- As per NATO official usage, this page used OXFORD SPELLING 'organization' rather than anything else -->
The '''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''' ('''NATO'''); ; (also called the ''North Atlantic Alliance'', the ''Atlantic Alliance'', or the ''Western Alliance'') is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium,<ref>Boulevard Leopold III-laan, B-1110 BRUSSELS, which is in Haren, part of the City of Brussels. </ref> the organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. 

For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Secretary General Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down".<ref>cited in Reynolds, ''The origins of the Cold War in Europe. International perspectives'', p 13</ref> Throughout the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure from 1966. 

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization became drawn into the Balkans while building better links with former potential enemies to the east, which culminated with the former trainers to Iraq. 

The Berlin Plus agreement is a comprehensive package of agreements made between NATO and the EU on 16 December 2002.With this agreement the EU is given the possibility to use NATO assets in case it wanted to act independently in an international crisis, on the condition that NATO does not want to act itself – the so-called "right of first refusal".<ref>Bram Boxhoorn, ''Broad Support for NATO in the Netherlands'',  21-09-2005, [http://www.ataedu.org/article_new.php?id=107]</ref> Only if NATO refuses to act, the EU may act if it wants to do so.

==History==
===Beginnings===
The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March, 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union's Defence Organization in September 1948.<ref>David C. Isby & Charles Kamps Jr, Armies of NATO's Central Front, Jane's Publishing Company Ltd 1985, p.13</ref>  However, participation of the United States was thought necessary in order to counter the military power of the USSR, and therefore talks for a new military alliance began almost immediately.

These talks resulted in the anti-NATO riot in March 1949 which may have been Communist-inspired. Three years later, on 18 February 1952, Greece and Turkey also joined.

Such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force does not necessarily mean that other member states will respond with military action against the aggressor(s). Rather they are obliged to respond, but maintain the freedom to choose how they will respond. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels (which founded the Western European Union) which clearly states that the response must include military action. It is however often assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily. Further, the article limits the organization's scope to Europe and North America, which explains why the invasion of the British Falkland Islands did not result in NATO involvement.
thumb|right|220px|The German Bundeswehr provided the majority of allied land forces guarding the frontier in Central Europe; 12 of 26 divisions in 1985.
The outbreak of the divisions. However this requirement was dropped the following year to roughly 35 divisions with heavier use to be made of nuclear weapons. At this time, NATO could call on about fifteen ready divisions in Central Europe, and another ten in Italy and Scandinavia.<ref>Robert E. Osgood, 'NATO: The Entangling Alliance,' University Press, Chicago, 1962, p.76, in William Park 'Defending the West,' Wheatsheaf Books, 1986, p.28</ref> Also at Lisbon, the post of Secretary General of NATO as the organization's chief civilian was also created, and Baron Hastings Ismay eventually appointed to the post.<ref>Time magazine, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816183,00.html The Man with the Oilcan], March 24, 1952</ref> Later, in September 1952, the first major NATO maritime exercises began; Operation Mainbrace brought together 200 ships and over 50,000 personnel to practice the defence of Denmark and Norway. 

Greece and Turkey joined the alliance the same year, forcing a series of controversial negotiations, in which the United States and Britain were the primary disputants, over how to bring the two countries into the military command structure.<ref>Sean M. Maloney, 'To Secure Command of the Sea: NATO Command Organization and Naval Planning for the Cold War at Sea, 1945-54,' MA thesis, University of New Brunswick, 1991, p.270-291</ref> Meanwhile, while this overt military preparation was going on, covert stay-behind arrangements to continue resistance after a successful Soviet invasion ('Operation Gladio'), initially made by the Western European Union, were being transferred to NATO control. Ultimately unofficial bonds began to grow between NATO's armed forces, such as the NATO Tiger Association and competitions such as the Canadian Army Trophy for tank gunnery.

In 1954, the Soviet Union suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe.<ref></ref> The NATO countries, fearing that the Soviet Union's motive was to weaken the alliance, ultimately rejected this proposal.

The incorporation of West Germany into the organization on 9 May 1955 was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by Halvard Lange, Foreign Minister of Norway at the time.<ref>BBC On This Day "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_2519000/2519979.stm1955: West Germany accepted into Nato]" bbc.co.uk </ref> A major reason for Germany's entry into the alliance was that without German manpower, it would have been impossible to field enough conventional forces to resist a Soviet invasion.<ref>David C. Isby & Charles Kamps Jr, Armies of NATO's Central Front, Jane's Publishing Company Ltd 1985, p.15</ref> Indeed, one of its immediate results was the creation of the Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany, as a formal response to this event, thereby delineating the two opposing sides of the Cold War.

The unity of NATO was breached early on in its history, with a crisis occurring during special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. In a memorandum sent to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 17 September 1958, he argued for the creation of a tripartite directorate that would put France on an equal footing with the United States and the United Kingdom, and also for the expansion of NATO's coverage to include geographical areas of interest to France, most notably Algeria, where France was waging a counter-insurgency and sought NATO assistance.  

Considering the response given to be unsatisfactory, and in order to give Mediterranean fleet from NATO command; three months later, in June ten major air force bases that had operated in France since 1950 to the French by 1967. 

In the meantime, independent nuclear deterrence programme, spearheaded by the ''"Force de frappe"'' ("Striking force"). France tested its first nuclear weapon, ''Gerboise Bleue'', on 13 February 1960, in (what was then) French Algeria.
thumb|250px|Map of Major [[United States Air Forces in Europe|USAF bases in France before Charles de Gaulle's 1966 withdrawal from NATO military integrated command.]]
Though France showed solidarity with the rest of NATO during the Atlantic and Channel fleets from NATO command. In 1966, all French armed forces were removed from NATO's integrated military command, and all non-French NATO troops were asked to leave France. This withdrawal forced the relocation of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) from Paris to Casteau, north of Mons, Belgium, by 16 October 1967. France remained a member of the alliance, and committed to the defence of Europe from possible Communist attack with its own forces stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany throughout the Cold War. 

The creation of NATO brought about some FAL became the most popular 7.62 NATO rifle in Europe and served into the early 1990s. Also, aircraft marshalling signals were standardized, so that any NATO aircraft could land at any NATO base. Other standards such as the NATO phonetic alphabet have made their way beyond NATO into civilian use.

===Détente===

During most of the duration of the Cold War, NATO maintained a holding pattern with no actual military engagement as an organization. On 1 July 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opened for signature: NATO argued that its nuclear weapons sharing arrangements did not breach the treaty as U.S. forces controlled the weapons until a decision was made to go to war, at which point the treaty would no longer be controlling. Few states knew of the NATO nuclear sharing arrangements at that time, and they were not challenged.

On 30 May 1978, NATO countries officially defined two complementary aims of the Alliance, to maintain security and pursue détente. This was supposed to mean matching defences at the level rendered necessary by the Warsaw Pact's offensive capabilities without spurring a further arms race.

On Dual Track policy. Similarly, in 1983–84, responding to the stationing of Warsaw Pact SS-20 medium-range missiles in Europe, NATO deployed modern Pershing II missiles tasked to hit military targets such as tank formations in the event of war. This action led to peace movement protests throughout Western Europe.

===KAL 007 and NATO deployment of missiles in W. Europe===
With the background of the build-up of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States, NATO decided, under the impetus of the Reagan presidency, to deploy Pershing II and cruise missiles in Western Europe, primarily West Germany. These missiles were theatre nuclear weapons intended to strike targets on the battlefield if the Soviets invaded West Germany. Yet support for the deployment was wavering and many doubted whether the push for deployment could be sustained. But on Sept. 1, 1983, the Soviet Union shot down a Korean airliner, loaded with passengers, when it crossed into Soviet airspace - an act which Reagan characterized as a "massacre". The barbarity of this act, as the U.S. and indeed the world understood it, galvanized support for the deployment - which stood in place until the later accords between Reagan and Mikhael Gorbachev.

The membership of the organization in this time period likewise remained largely static. In 1974, as a consequence of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Greece withdrew its forces from NATO's military command structure, but, with Turkish cooperation, were readmitted in 1980. On 30 May 1982, NATO gained a new member when, following a referendum, the newly democratic Spain joined the alliance. 

In November 1983, NATO manoeuvres simulating a nuclear launch caused panic in the Kremlin. The Soviet leadership, led by ailing General Secretary Yuri Andropov, became concerned that the manoeuvres, codenamed Able Archer 83, were the beginnings of a genuine first strike. In response, Soviet nuclear forces were readied and air units in East Germany and Poland were placed on alert. Though at the time written off by U.S. intelligence as a propaganda effort, many historians now believe that the Soviet fear of a NATO first strike was genuine.

=== Post Cold War ===
250px|thumb|The NATO Secretary General, the U.S. President, and the Prime Ministers of Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Estonia after a ceremony welcoming them into NATO on [[29 March 2004 at the Istanbul Summit.]]
The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 removed the ''de facto'' main adversary of NATO. This caused a strategic re-evaluation of NATO's purpose, nature and tasks. In practice this ended up entailing a gradual (and still ongoing) expansion of NATO to Eastern Europe, as well as the extension of its activities to areas that had not formerly been NATO concerns.
The first post-Cold War expansion of NATO came with the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990, when the former East Germany became part of the Federal Republic of Germany and the alliance. This had been agreed in the Two Plus Four Treaty earlier in the year. To secure Soviet approval of a united Germany remaining in NATO, it was agreed that foreign troops and nuclear weapons would not be stationed in the east. 

The scholar Stephen F. Cohen argued in 2005 that a commitment was given that NATO would never expand further east,<ref>Gorbachev's Lost Legacy by Stephen F. Cohen [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050314/cohen (link)] The Nation, February 24, 2005</ref> but according to Robert B. Zoellick, then a State Department official involved in the Two Plus Four negotiating process, this appears to be a misperception; no formal commitment of the sort was made.<ref>Robert B. Zoellick, [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-65576869.html The Lessons of German Unification], The National Interest, September 22, 2000</ref> On May 7, 2008, The Daily Telegraph held an interview with Gorbachev in which he repeated his view that such a commitment had been made. Gorbachev said "the Americans promised that NATO wouldn't move beyond the boundaries of Germany after the Cold War but now half of central and eastern Europe are members, so what happened to their promises? It shows they cannot be trusted."<ref name="me">[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1933223/Gorbachev-US-could-start-new-Cold-War.html Gorbachev: US could start new Cold War] Telegraph Retrieved on May 22, 2008</ref>

As part of post-Cold War restructuring, NATO's military structure was cut back and reorganized, with new forces such as the Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps established. The 
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe agreed between NATO and the Warsaw Pact and signed in Paris in 1990, mandated specific reductions. The changes brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union on the military balance in Europe were recognized in the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, signed some years later. France rejoined NATO's Military Committee in 1995, and since that time has intensified working relations with the military structure.  France did not, however, rejoined the integrated military command and no non-French NATO troops are allowed to be based on its soil. The policies of current French President Nicolas Sarkozy have resulted in a major reform of France's military position, culminating in a pledge in June 2008 to rejoin the military command of NATO while maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent.<ref>Stratton, Allegra. "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/17/france.military Sarkozy military plan unveiled]". ''The Guardian'', 17 June 2008</ref>

The first NATO military operation caused by the conflict in the former Yugoslavia was war in Bosnia to an end, resulting in the Dayton Agreement, which in turn meant that NATO deployed a peacekeeping force, under Operation Joint Endeavor, first named IFOR and then SFOR, which ran from December 1996 to December 2004. Following the lead of its member nations, NATO began to award a service medal, the NATO Medal, for these operations.

Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbours were set up, like the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. On 8 July 1997, three former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited to join NATO, which finally happened in 1999. In 1998, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council was established.

A NATO bombing campaign, UN resolution 1244. During the crisis, NATO also deployed one of its international reaction forces, the ACE Mobile Force (Land), to KFOR, a NATO-led force under a United Nations mandate that operated the military mission in Kosovo. In August–September 2001, the alliance also mounted Operation Essential Harvest, a mission disarming ethnic Albanian militias in the Republic of Macedonia. <ref>NATO's role in [http://www.nato.int/fyrom/ FYROM]</ref>

The United States, the United Kingdom, and most other NATO countries opposed efforts to require the U.N. Security Council to approve NATO military strikes, such as the ongoing action against Yugoslavia, while France and some others claimed that the alliance needed U.N. approval. The U.S./U.K. side claimed that this would undermine the authority of the alliance, and they noted that Russia and China would have exercised their Security Council vetoes to block the strike on Yugoslavia, and could do the same in future conflicts where NATO intervention was required, thus nullifying the entire potency and purpose of the organization.

=== After the September 11 attacks ===
thumb|right|250px|NATO Defence Ministers' Summit in [[Poiana Braşov, 13-14 October 2004.]]
The September 11 attacks caused NATO to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter for the first time in its history.  The Article says that an attack on any member shall be considered to be an attack on all.  The invocation was confirmed on 4 October 2001 when NATO determined that the attacks were indeed eligible under the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty.<ref>[http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2001/1001/e1002a.htm NATO Update: Invocation of Article 5 confirmed - 2 October 2001<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The eight official actions taken by NATO in response to the attacks included : Operation Eagle Assist and Operation Active Endeavour.
Operation Active Endeavour is a naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea and is designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass destruction as well as to enhance the security of shipping in general. It began on October 4, 2001.

Despite this early show of solidarity, NATO faced a crisis little more than a year later, when on 10 February 2003, France and Belgium vetoed the procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq. Germany did not use its right to break the procedure but said it supported the veto.

On the issue of Afghanistan on the other hand, the alliance showed greater unity: On 16 April 2003 NATO agreed to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The decision came at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the agreement, and all 19 NATO ambassadors approved it unanimously. The handover of control to NATO took place on 11 August, and marked the first time in NATO’s history that it took charge of a mission outside the north Atlantic area. Canada had originally been slated to take over ISAF by itself on that date.

In January 2004, NATO appointed Minister Hikmet Çetin, of Turkey, as the Senior Civilian Representative (SCR) in Afghanistan. Minister Cetin is primarily responsible for advancing the political-military aspects of the Alliance in Afghanistan. In August 2004, following U.S. pressure, NATO formed the NATO Training Mission - Iraq, a training mission to assist the Iraqi security forces in conjunction with the U.S. led MNF-I.<ref>NATO Training Mission - Iraq, [http://www.afsouth.nato.int/JFCN_Missions/NTM-I/NTMI_intro.htm Introduction], 17 September 2007</ref>

On military operations in the south of Afghanistan from a U.S.-led anti-terrorism coalition.

===Expansion and restructuring=== 
300px|right|thumb|Map of NATO countries chronological membership. Light Blue marks new members.
New NATO structures were also formed while old ones were abolished: The 2002 Prague Summit on 21 November. On 19 June 2003, a major restructuring of the NATO military commands began as the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic were abolished and a new command, Allied Command Transformation (ACT), was established in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) became the Headquarters of Allied Command Operations (ACO). ACT is responsible for driving transformation (future capabilities) in NATO, whilst ACO is responsible for current operations.

Membership went on expanding with the accession of seven more Northern European and Eastern European countries to NATO: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and also Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. They were first invited to start talks of membership during the 2002 Prague Summit, and joined NATO on 29 March 2004, shortly before the 2004 Istanbul Summit. 
The same month, NATO's Baltic Air Policing began, which supported the sovereignty of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia by providing fighters to react to any unwanted aerial intrusions. Four fighters are based in Lithuania, provided in rotation by virtually all the NATO states. ''Operation Peaceful Summit'' temporarily enhanced this patrolling during the 2006 Riga Summit.<ref>L. Neidinger "NATO team ensures safe sky during Riga Summit", December 8, 2006, [http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123034224]</ref>

The 2006 NATO summit was held in Riga, Latvia, which had joined the Atlantic Alliance two years earlier. It is the first NATO summit to be held in a country that was part of the Soviet Union, and the second one in a former COMECON country (after the 2002 Prague Summit). Energy Security was one of the main themes of the Riga Summit.<ref></ref>

At the April 2008 summit in Georgia were also told that they will eventually become members (see NATO#Future Enlargement of NATO below).<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/03/nato.members/index.html U.S. wins NATO backing for missile defense shield - CNN.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

===Involvement in Afghanistan: Taking over ISAF===
thumb|230px|Current membership of NATO in Europe.

In August 2003, NATO commenced its first mission ever outside Europe when it assumed control over Khandahar, in order to reinforce the alliance's efforts.<ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3232,36-949296@51-947771,0.html LeMonde.fr : La France et l'OTAN<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> It is difficult to see how NATO can succeed in stabilizing Afghanistan unless it is willing to commit more troops and give commanders more flexibility."<ref> J. Nye, "NATO after Riga", December 14, 2006, http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/nye40</ref> If these caveats were to be eliminated, it is argued that this could help NATO to succeed. NATO is also training the ANA ( Afghan National Army ) to be better equipped in forcing out the Taliban.

===NATO missile defense talks controversy===
For some years, the United States negotiated with Poland and the Czech Republic for the deployment of interceptor missiles and a radar tracking system in the two countries. Both countries' governments indicated that they would allow the deployment. The proposed American missile defence site in Central Europe is believed to be fully operational in 2015 and would be capable of covering most of Europe except part of Romania plus Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.<ref name=xinhuanet20070419>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/19/content_6001014.htm Xinhua - English<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 

In April 2007, NATO's European allies called for a NATO missile defence system which would complement the American National Missile Defense system to protect Europe from missile attacks and NATO's decision-making North Atlantic Council held consultations on missile defence in the first meeting on the topic at such a senior level.<ref name=xinhuanet20070419/>

In response, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that such a deployment could lead to a new arms race and could enhance the likelihood of mutual destruction. He also suggested that his country should freeze its compliance with the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)—which limits military deployments across the continent—until all NATO countries had ratified the adapted CFE treaty.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6594379.stm BBC News | Europe | Russia in defence warning to US<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the system would not affect strategic balance or threaten Russia, as the plan is to base only 10 interceptor missiles in Poland with an associated radar in the Czech Republic.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6570533.stm BBC News | Europe | Nato chief dismisses Russia fears<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

On July 14, 2007, Russia notified its intention to suspend the CFE treaty, effective 150 days later.<ref> BBC NEWS, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6898690.stm "Russia suspends arms control pact"], July 14, 2007</ref><ref name=TIME>Y. Zarakhovich, [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1643566,00.html "Why Putin Pulled Out of a Key Treaty"] in ''Time'', July 14, 2007</ref>

==Membership==

At the NATO summit in Bucharest (April 2008) Albania and Croatia were officially invited to start accession talks with the alliance.<ref name="denial"></ref><ref name="balkaninsight"></ref>
On 9 July 2008 they signed the accession protocols.

===Future enlargement===
thumb|250px|

<!-- All commentary on potential future members belongs at Enlargement of NATO; only single sentence summaries should be added here -->
In addition to the above listed members, Georgia and Ukraine 'will become members of NATO.'

Other potential candidate countries include, in South-eastern Europe, unification of Germany. NATO's expansion policy is seen as a continuation of a Cold War attempt to surround and isolate Russia.<ref>NATO Seeking to Weaken CIS by Expansion — Russian General [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/01/balusaid.shtml (link)] MosNews 01.12.2005 and Ukraine moves closer to NATO membership By Taras Kuzio, [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=407&issue_id=3316&article_id=2369682 Jamestown Foundation and Global Realignment] [http://www.lrna.org/doc.4/globalre.html] and [http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/04-05-2006/79870-rice-0 Condoleezza Rice wants Russia to acknowledge USA's interests on post-Soviet space], Pravda 04.05.2006</ref>

== Cooperation with non-member states==

[[Image:NATO Partners.png|250px|thumb|

]]

===Euro-Atlantic Partnership===

A double framework has been established to help further co-operation between the 26 NATO members and 24 "partner countries".

* The '''Partnership for Peace (PfP)''' programme was established in 1994 and is based on individual bilateral relations between each partner country and NATO: each country may choose the extent of its participation. The PfP programme is considered the operational wing of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership.<ref>http://www.nato.int/issues/pfp/index.html http://www.nato.int/pfp/sig-date.html</ref>
* The '''Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC)''' was first established on 29 May 1997, and is a forum for regular coordination, consultation and dialogue between all 49 participants.<ref>[http://www.nato.int/issues/eapc/index.html NATO Topics: The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council]</ref>

right|thumb|250px|Exercício ''Steadfast Jaguar 2006'' da OTAN em São Vicente, [[Cabo Verde]]

A '''Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte''' ('''OTAN''' ou  '''NATO'''<ref>Em inglês) por, paradoxalmente, se parecer mais a uma palavra portuguesa</ref>), por vezes chamada '''Aliança Atlântica''', é uma Washington a inglês, e ''Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord'' (OTAN), em francês.

A organização foi criada em 1949, no contexto da aliança militar do leste europeu. 

Desta forma, a OTAN tinha, na sua origem, um significado e um objectivo paralelos, no domínio político-militar, aos do Plano Marshall no domínio político-económico. Os estados signatários do tratado de 1949 estabeleceram um compromisso de cooperação estratégica em tempo de paz e contraíram uma obrigação de auxílio mútuo em caso de ataque a qualquer dos países-membros. 

Os estados que integram a OTAN são a Alemanha (República Federal da Alemanha antes da reunificação alemã), a Bélgica, o Canadá, a Dinamarca, a Espanha, os Estados Unidos da América, a França<ref>Em 1966 França abandonou a estrutura militar da NATO, mantendo-se como membro na estrutura política. Na actualidade, a França tem vindo a aproximar-se lentamente da estrutura militar da NATO.</ref>, a Grécia, os Países Baixos, a Islândia, a Itália, o Luxemburgo, a Noruega, Portugal, o Reino Unido, a Turquia, a Hungria, a Polónia, a República Checa, Bulgária, a Estónia, a Letónia, a Lituânia, a Romênia, a Eslováquia e a Eslovénia. 

Com o desmoronamento do Bloco de Leste no final dos anos 80, surgiu a necessidade de redefinição do papel da OTAN no contexto da nova ordem internacional, pois o motivo que deu origem ao aparecimento da organização e o objetivo que a norteou durante quatro décadas desapareceram subitamente.

A organização dedicou-se, pois, a esta nova tarefa, com o objetivo de se tornar o eixo da política de segurança de toda a Europa (isto é considerando também os países que antes formavam o bloco adversário) e América do Norte. Assim, começou a tratar-se do alargamento a leste (considerando, nomeadamente, a adesão da Polónia, da Hungria e da República Checa) e, em 1997, criou-se o Conselho de Parceria Euro-Atlântica, um órgão consultivo e de coordenação onde têm também assento os países aliados da NATO, incluindo os países da Europa de Leste o que desagrada à Rússia ao ver afastar-se da sua esfera de influência. 

Em Março de 1999, formalizou-se a adesão da Hungria, da Polónia e da República Checa, três países do antigo Pacto de Varsóvia. Em Março de 2004 aderiaram a Bulgária, a Estónia, a Letónia, a Lituânia, a Romênia, a Eslováquia e a Eslovénia.

Na actualidade a Aliança Atlântica exerce grande influência nas decisões políticas europeias.

== Estados membros ==
400px|thumb|Mapa dos países da OTAN: países membros (a azul escuro) e futuros membros (a azul claro)

===Membros fundadores (4 de Abril de 1949)===
* 
* 
* 
*  (em 1966 a França retirou-se do comando militar integrado da OTAN e todas as forças da OTAN deixaram o país)
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 

===Estados que aderiram à OTAN durante a Guerra Fria===
thumb|right|Membros da OTAN na Europa

*  (18 de Fevereiro de 1952)
*  (18 de fevereiro de 1952)
*  (9 de maio de 1955 como Alemanha Ocidental)
*  (30 de maio de 1982)

=== Estados que formavam o bloco soviético e que aderiram à OTAN após a Guerra Fria===
'''3 de outubro de 1990:'''
*  - reunificada com a Alemanha Ocidental, formando atualmente a Alemanha)
'''12 de março de 1999:'''
* 
* 
* 
'''29 de março de 2004:'''
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 

=== Estados que irão aderir em 2009 ===
* 
* 

==Referências==
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====

*Bandeira da Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte
*Pacto de Varsóvia
*Guerra Fria
*OTAS

====
* [http://www.nato.int/ Sítio oficial da NATO]

Categoria:OTAN