New Research Division Publication

There is still a debate in NATO on what could preserve the cohesion of the Alliance and its partners now that the common threat of the past is (fortunately) no longer a bonding factor. This question will increase in importance after the withdrawal of combat forces from Afghanistan: after 2014, NATO will lack the close and intense cooperation with allies and partners on a daily basis which it has experienced through ISAF, and which certainly has a unifying effect.

Some argue that contemporary security challenges like terrorism, cyber threats or risks to energy supplies could keep the Atlantic Alliance together. Not long ago NATO acknowledged the relevance of such issues, which are not military in the strict sense of the term, by creating the Emerging Security Challenges Division. Against this background, the new paper by the NDC Research Division now assesses the possibility of improving NATO’s internal cohesion through cooperation on these emerging challenges. Is the fight against cyber attacks or energy shortages the new silver bullet against centrifugal forces within the Alliance?

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