Otan

OTAN, or Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military and political alliance established in 1949 to ensure collective defense and security among its members. The core principle is Article 5, which states that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all, shaping deterrence and crisis management. The alliance aims to deter aggression, manage crises, and foster security cooperation among its members and partners.

Headquartered in Brussels, NATO operates a dual military command structure: Allied Command Operations (ACO) based at SHAPE near Mons, Belgium, and Allied Command Transformation (ACT) in Norfolk, United States. Decisions are made by consensus through the North Atlantic Council, with military planning and execution carried out by the Allied Command structures.

Membership has expanded from 12 founding states (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States) to 32 members as of 2024. Major enlargements included Greece and Turkey (1952), West Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017), North Macedonia (2020), Finland (2023), and Sweden (2024).

NATO conducts and supports operations and missions, including Kosovo (KFOR), Afghanistan (ISAF and later Resolute Support), and Libya (Unified Protector), while expanding training and capacity-building efforts. It maintains partnerships with non-member states through programs such as the Partnership for Peace and collaborates with the European Union on security matters.

The alliance has faced criticisms related to sovereignty, burden sharing, and strategic direction but remains a central framework for Western defense and security policy in the Euro-Atlantic region, with ongoing adaptations to cyber, space, and hybrid threats.