From context to concept: history and strategic environment for NATO’s 2022 strategic concept

ABSTRACT

This article introduces ten essays capturing ten panel discussions held by the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy on 3-4 February 2022, in support of the drafting of NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept. While the shadow of the Russo-Ukrainian war hung heavy over the proceedings, participants sought to take both a long and a broad view, contemplating NATO’s role in a changing international order. NATO allies must assimilate these changes into their collective and national strategies, but they are first and foremost agents themselves, whose strategies can and should shape the future. The participants asked challenging questions about what international order(s) might look like in the proximate future, and how NATO allies could shape that proximate future. The authors of this introductory essay contend that while simultaneous competition with China and Russia will be a (perhaps the) central feature of the international security landscape for years to come, the act of competing does not a Strategic Concept make. Allies must grapple with interrelated issues ranging from the evergreen question of transatlantic burden-sharing to the assimilation of emerging technologies into strategic and operational planning. The transatlantic security architecture anchored by NATO will have to be incorporated into a broader, global security network to manage competition with China and Russia while holding fast to the democratic values that are at NATO’s heart.

KEYWORDS:

• NATO
• Transatlantic Security
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Grand Strategy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. 2019 London Declaration; 2019 Military Strategy (including the Warfighting Capstone Concept and the Concept for the Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area, known as “implementing concepts”); 2021 Brussels summit communiqué (including the accompanying Climate Change and Security Action Plan, the Strengthened Resilience Commitment and the Comprehensive Cyber Defense Policy); 2022 Overarching Space Policy.

2. “Manag[ing] developing crises that have the potential to affect Alliance security, before they escalate into conflicts; to stop ongoing conflicts where they affect Alliance security; and to help consolidate stability in post-conflict situations where that contributes to Euro-Atlantic security (NATO 2010).”

3. Engaging in “partnership with relevant countries and other international organisations; by contributing actively to arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament; and by keeping the door to membership in the Alliance open to all European democracies that meet NATO’s standards (NATO 2010).”

4. Allies “assist[ing] each other against attack, in accordance with Article 5 of the Washington Treaty (NATO 2010).”

5. “A society’s ability to resist and recover from such shocks and combines both civil preparedness and military capacity (NATO 2021).”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jordan Becker

Jordan Becker is Director of the Social Science Research Lab at West Point. He has served as an Infantry, Special Forces, and Foreign Area Officer in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Michael Duda

Michael Duda is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, and an Army Strategist. As an aviator, he commanded at the platoon and troop levels.

Douglas Lute

Ambassador Douglas Lute is the former US Permanent Representative to NATO and retired from the US Army at the rank of Lieutenant General. He is the Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point.