\n
\nThe COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a tectonic shift in world politics: China\u2019s rise and an erosion, if not a decline, of Western power. Where Western Allies squabble, China acts with confidence. NATO\u2019s timorous decision of December 2019 to discuss China\u2019s \u201cgrowing influence\u201d now seems quaint one year on, or at best a preamble to the preeminent question of our era: is NATO sufficiently cohesive to confront change? <\/i><\/p>\n
NATO has rightly responded to COVID-19 by deepening certain policy competencies in hybrid warfare and societal resilience.1<\/a> However, policy cannot rescue NATO; only politics can. Worryingly, COVID-19 has magnified political fractures within an Alliance that has struggled for visibility.2<\/a> The Allies have clashed on travel restrictions, medical supplies and vaccines. The G7 Summit, an ostensibly ideal forum for advancing strategic thinking among liberal powers, failed to take place over the summer because of a disagreement over how to sanction China for encroaching on Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy. Subsequently, a US decision to weaken its military footprint in Europe aroused anxiety on the US commitment to NATO;3<\/a><\/i> intense conflicts of interests in the Eastern Mediterranean between Turkey, Greece, France, and Italy belied their status as close Allies; and within the United Nations Security Council, the Allies were unable to coordinate any meaningful approach on Iran sanctions.<\/i>\n<\/p>\n \n More Research Division Publications…<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n NDC Public Affairs Office<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NDC Policy Brief 16-20: A renewed collective defense bargain? NATO in COVID\u2019s shadow, by Sten Rynning* The COVID-19<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_badge":[],"class_list":["post-13089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"modified_by":null,"author_meta":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"featured_img":null,"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","trp-custom-language-flag":"","morenews-featured":"","morenews-large":"","morenews-medium":""},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":0,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["News<\/span>"]}},"relative_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 6 ans il y a","modified":"Mis \u00e0 jour 6 mois il y a"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le octobre 1, 2020","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le octobre 1, 2020 08:54","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026 09:30"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13089"},{"taxonomy":"post_badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_badge?post=13089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\nDenmark, and Non-Resident Associate Fellow at the NATO Defense
\nCollege.<\/div>\n
\n 1<\/sup> (back)<\/a><\/span>
\nN. K. Gvosdev, “The effect of COVID-19 on the NATO alliance”, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 23 March 2020; M. Ozawa<\/a>, “NATO and Russia in the time of Corona: countering disinformation and supporting Allies”, in T. Tardy<\/a> (ed.), COVID-19: NATO in the Age of Pandemics<\/a><\/em>, NDC Research Paper No.09, 2020, pp.21-29; M. Rühle and C. Roberts, “NATO’s response to hybrid threats”, in M. Ozawa<\/a> (ed.),
\nThe Alliance five years after Crimea: implementing the Wales Summit pledges<\/a><\/em>, Research Paper No.07, NATO Defense College, Rome, 2019, pp.61-70.\n<\/div>\n
\n 2<\/sup> (back)<\/a><\/span> T. Tardy<\/a>, \u201cCOVID-19: shaping future threats and security policies\u201d,
\n COVID-19: NATO in the Age of Pandemics<\/a><\/em>, NDC Research Paper No.09,
\n2020, pp.13-20; D. H. Chollet, M. Baranowski, and S. Keil, \u201cWhere is
\nNATO? And where Is Trump?\u201d, Defense One<\/em>, 13 April 2020.\n<\/div>\n
\n 3<\/sup> (back)<\/a><\/span> R. Gramer and J. Detsch, \u201cTrump undercuts Pentagon over Germany
\ntroop withdrawal\u201d, Foreign Policy<\/em>, 29 July 2020.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\nDownload the publication<\/a> to keep reading.<\/p>\n