NATO’s Strategic Concept: Three Do’s and Don’ts
The new Strategic Concept must clarify the tasks that NATO should undertake in the great-power competition with, and defense of common values against, Russia and China, argues Henrik Larsen in this CSS Policy Perspective.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a virtual meeting with the NATO 2030 Reflection Group on 8 April 2020. nato.int
Key Points:
- The Strategic Concept should concentrate on military burden sharing to improve alliance cohesion rather than on the condemnation of allies’ democratic shortcomings.
- The concept should tie resilience to collective defense and national security but not extend into an area like ordinary law enforcement.
- The concept should state NATO’s ambition to define gold standards for new technology but refrain from “going global”.