NATO's Level of Ambition in Light of the Current Strategic Context

<p>In the last two decades NATO's operations have exposed significant shortcomings in the organization's military capabilities. The Alliance has relied on the U.S. to provide either the bulk of the forces or the majority of the critical capabilities or both. In 2006 the Alliance established its level of ambition to indicate the number and size of the operations that the organization must be able to perform to meet its challenges. However the Alliance has failed so far in developing the capabilities required to reach that goal. At the operational level the main issue for the Alliance has been the ability to build and sustain a strong coalition with enough forces and capabilities to carry on the mission. As an organization its recurrent challenge has been to keep the members committed to both providing the resources needed for every operation and developing the critical capabilities that the Alliance requires. In 2010 the Alliance approved a new strategic concept to ensure that the Alliance continues to be effective against the new threats. However this agreement does not foresee a revision of the level of ambition. In addition the U.S. has issued a new strategic guidance that suggests a reduction in American participation in NATO. Therefore the question today is if NATO is able to reach its level of ambition without relying extensively on U.S. military capabilities.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>