The+North+Atlantic+Treaty+Organization+(NATO)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded with the signing of the Washington Treaty on 4 April 1949 after the conclusion of World War II and at the commencement of the Cold War. It was essentially a response by the United States and its allies in Western Europe to the Soviet Union's Warsaw Pact with its Eastern Bloc states. The original twelve member states convened to establish NATO as a powerful military force to counter the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. The two systems of alliances formed which formed reflected the general trend of the Cold War: the U.S.A. and democracy against the U.S.S.R. and communism.

Today, NATO has expanded from its original twelve members and is now comprised of twenty-eight different states of the North Atlantic area, the overwhelmingly most powerful of which is the United States.

NATO's primary objective is to ensure the security of its member states as a powerful political and military alliance of collective defense. Although it encourages peaceful cooperation and consultation to resolve crises, it has ample military power to act upon such crises; it has the capacity to use military force for its defense and security.

NATO promotes democracy and stability through collaboration among its members. It uses diplomacy and, when necessary, military force, to maintain peace and to prevent potential conflicts.

NATO's civilian structure is divided into numerous divisions which deal with politics, defense, security, diplomacy, management, and resources. These divisions include the //Operations Division, Emerging Security Challenges Division, and the Public Diplomacy Division//. Many of these divisions have numerous other branches.

NATO's military structure is divided into four major divisions: //The Military Committee, the International Military Staff, the Allied Command Operations (ACO), the Allied Command Transformation (ACT)//. The //International Military Staff// has twelve subdivisions, the //ACO// has several dozen subdivisions which include standing military forces and headquarters, and the //ACT// has seven subdivisions. After all of this, there are still several other branches.

NATO also has numerous organizations and agencies - each with their own subdivision(s) - including //Production Logistics, Civil Emergency Planning, Air Traffic Management, Air Defense, Communication Information Systems, Electronic Warfare, Meteorology, Military Oceanography, and Research and Technology.//

The complete list of all NATO's innumerable divisions and subdivisions can be found on the NATO website.

Member states of NATO have the advantage of collective security. If one or several member states are attacked, NATO considers it to be an attack on all the member states, and so they all consequently retaliate. The combined force of the twenty-eight member states, especially the United States, creates a formidable force of defense and security. To be a member of NATO is to be protected from threats.

Because of this same principle, members of NATO suffer the disadvantage of being obligated to respond to a crisis if one or more NATO members are troubled. If one member is attacked, all the other members must commit some of their resources, effort, and time to protecting the victimized member and to quell the attacker.

NATO promotes local diversity by allowing its member states to discuss issues and to reach a consensus before acting. They protect each other from harm, so they thus protect each other's cultures, which promotes local diversity.

Here is a map of NATO:

Here is a PDF of NATO, its members, and its objectives:

North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "NATO - What is NATO?" [] North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "NATO - Member Countries." [] North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "NATO - Structure." [] North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "Working together for Peace and Security." [] Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. "North Atlantic Treaty Organization (orthographic projection)."