Atlantic Forum Online: From the UN to Ukraine: Strategy and Organization in the Transatlantic Alliance

Today’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) differs strikingly from the post-World War II alliance created to keep "the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down," in the words of a British statesman. These differences are not simply the result of the Cold War, Afghanistan, or the return of war to Europe in the twenty-first-century; instead, they represent a pattern of adaptability first seen in the incorporation of Germany as a full member of the alliance in the early 1950s. Renewed confrontation between Russia and the West has reinvigorated the debate about NATO’s relevance, while European and international security crises from Ukraine to cyberspace have challenged NATO to adapt.

is visiting professor of international relations at Heidelberg University, adjunct professor at Georgetown University (Washington DC), and U.S. Army officer. A scholar and practitioner in European and international security, Dr. Johnston previously held appointments at Harvard’s Center for European Studies, Harvard Kennedy School, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His book How NATO Adapts was the #1 most requested book at the NATO Library in Brussels. Former NATO task force commander and commander of U.S. Army troops in Belgium and Germany, he received his doctorate from Oxford University.