Editing NATO (section)

{{Short description|Intergovernmental military alliance}}
{{Redirect|OTAN|other uses|NATO (disambiguation)|and|OTAN (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024|cs1-dates=l}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                     = North Atlantic Treaty Organization
| native_name              = {{lang|fr|Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord}}
| native_name_lang         = fr
| logo                     = NATO OTAN landscape logo.svg
| logo_size                = 175px
| logo_caption             = Logo
| image                    = NATO flag.svg{{!}}border
| image_size               = 150px
| caption                  = [[Flag of NATO|Flag]]
| map                      = {{Switcher | [[File:NATO (Orthographic Projection).svg|upright=1.25|frameless]]  | Show globe | [[File:NATO (Locator Map).svg|upright=1.25|frameless]] | Show Europe }}
| msize                    = 250px
| mcaption                 = Member states shown in dark green
| abbreviation             = {{hlist|NATO|OTAN}}
| formation                = {{Start date and age|1949|4|4|df=y|p=y}}
| type                     = [[Military alliance]]
| headquarters             = [[City of Brussels|Brussels]], Belgium
| expenses                 = '''Total''': {{USD|1.474 trillion|link=yes}}<br />
'''Excluding the US''': {{USD|507 billion|link=yes}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2024/6/pdf/240617-def-exp-2024-en.pdf|title=Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014–2024)|publisher=NATO}}</ref>
| expenses_year            = 2024
| membership               = {{Collapsible list|titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
 |title = [[Member states of NATO|32 states]]
 |{{flaglist|Albania}}
 |{{flaglist|Belgium}}
 |{{flaglist|Bulgaria}}
 |{{flaglist|Canada}}
 |{{flaglist|Croatia}}
 |{{nowrap|{{flaglist|Czech Republic}}}}
 |{{flaglist|Denmark}}
 |{{flaglist|Estonia}}
 |{{flaglist|Finland}}
 |{{flaglist|France}}
 |{{flaglist|Germany}}
 |{{flaglist|Greece}}
 |{{flaglist|Hungary}}
 |{{flaglist|Iceland}}
 |{{flaglist|Italy}}
 |{{flaglist|Latvia}}
 |{{flaglist|Lithuania}}
 |{{flaglist|Luxembourg}}
 |{{flaglist|Montenegro}}
 |{{flaglist|Netherlands}}
 |{{nowrap|{{flaglist|North Macedonia}}}}
 |{{flaglist|Norway}}
 |{{flaglist|Poland}}
 |{{flaglist|Portugal}}
 |{{flaglist|Romania}}
 |{{flaglist|Slovakia}}
 |{{flaglist|Slovenia}}
 |{{flaglist|Spain}}
 |{{flaglist|Sweden}}
 |{{flaglist|Turkey}}
 |{{nowrap|{{flaglist|United Kingdom}}}}
 |{{nowrap|{{flaglist|United States}}}}
 }}
| languages                = {{hlist|[[English language|English]]|[[French language|French]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 September 1949 |title=Final Communiqué |url=https://www.nato.int/docu/comm/49-95/c490917a.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206002220/http://www.nato.int/docu/comm/49-95/c490917a.htm |archive-date=6 December 2006 |access-date=2 March 2024 |publisher=NATO |quote=English and French shall be the official languages for the entire North Atlantic Treaty Organization.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=4 April 1949 |title=The North Atlantic Treaty |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_17120.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914102953/http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm |archive-date=14 September 2011 |access-date=2 March 2024 |publisher=NATO |language=en |quote=This Treaty, of which the English and French texts are equally authentic&nbsp;...}}</ref>}}
| leader_title             = [[Secretary General of NATO|Secretary General]]
| leader_name              = [[Mark Rutte]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mark Rutte takes office as NATO Secretary General |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_229142.htm?selectedLocale=en |access-date=2024-10-01 |publisher=NATO |language=en}}</ref>
| leader_title2            = [[Chair of the NATO Military Committee]]
| leader_name2             = [[Giuseppe Cavo Dragone]]
| leader_title3            = [[Supreme Allied Commander Europe]]
| leader_name3             = [[Christopher G. Cavoli]]
| leader_title4            = [[Allied Command Transformation#Supreme Allied Commander Transformation|Supreme Allied Commander Transformation]]
| leader_name4             = [[Pierre Vandier]]
| website                  = {{URL|https://www.nato.int/|nato.int}}
| footnotes                = {{center|'''Anthem:''' "[[The NATO Hymn]]" }}{{center|'''Motto:''' "[[Animus in consulendo liber]]" }}
}}
The '''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''' ('''NATO''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|eɪ|t|oʊ}} {{respell|NAY|toh}}; {{langx|fr|Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord}}, '''OTAN'''), also called the '''North Atlantic Alliance''', is an [[intergovernmental organization|intergovernmental]] [[Transnationalism|transnational]] [[military alliance]] of 32 [[Member states of NATO|member states]]—30 European<!-- Please do not change into something like "29 European and 1 Asian" (or "1 transcontinental" or "1 Eurasian") because of Turkey. Current consensus, as established in [[Talk:NATO/Archive 4#Eurasian?]], is to consider Turkey as European for this purpose (the definition of 'Europe' here is more political than geographical). If we were going to be geographically rigorous, we would have to remember that Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands and the UK all have territory in several other continents as well. --> and 2 North American. Established in the [[aftermath of World War II]], the organization implements the [[North Atlantic Treaty]], signed in [[Washington, D.C.]], on 4 April 1949.<ref name="NATO Homepage">{{cite web |date=n.d. |title=What is NATO? |url=https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228095023/https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html |archive-date=28 February 2022 |access-date=3 March 2022 |publisher=NATO }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Cook |first1=Lorne |date=25 May 2017 |title=NATO, the world's biggest military alliance, explained |website=[[Military Times]] |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2017/05/25/nato-the-world-s-biggest-military-alliance-explained/ |url-status=live |access-date=3 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525215404/http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/nato-the-worlds-biggest-military-alliance-explained |archive-date=25 May 2017}}</ref> NATO is a [[collective security]] system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the [[Cold War]], NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the [[Soviet Union]]. The alliance remained in place after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]], and has been involved in military operations in the [[Balkans]], the [[Middle East]], [[South Asia]], and [[Africa]]. The organization's motto is {{langnf|la|[[animus in consulendo liber]]|a mind unfettered in deliberation}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nato.int/multi/animus.htm |title=Animus in consulendo liber |publisher=NATO |accessdate=23 March 2015 |archive-date=9 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109002130/http://www.nato.int/multi/animus.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The organization's strategic concepts include [[Deterrence theory|deterrence]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Reinforcing deterrence: assessing NATO's 2022 Strategic Concept |journal=Defense & Security Analysis |pages=539–560 |date=2023 |volume=39 |issue=4 |doi=10.1080/14751798.2023.2270230 |last1=Szenes |first1=Zoltan |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[NATO headquarters|NATO's main headquarters]] are located in [[Brussels]], Belgium, while [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe|NATO's military headquarters]] are near [[Mons, Belgium]]. The alliance has increased its [[NATO Response Force]] deployments in Eastern Europe,<ref>{{Cite web |title=NATO to accelerate deployment of up to 300,000 soldiers on eastern border |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/03/19/7394109/ |access-date=14 June 2023 |website=Ukrainska Pravda |language=en |archive-date=19 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319140033/https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/03/19/7394109/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the combined militaries of all [[Member states of NATO|NATO members]] include around 3.5&nbsp;million soldiers and personnel.<ref>{{cite news |last=Batchelor |first=Tom |date=9 March 2022 |title=Where are Nato troops stationed and how many are deployed across Europe? |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/nato-troops-russia-ukraine-estonia-map-b2031894.html |access-date=8 June 2022 |archive-date=8 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608211009/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/nato-troops-russia-ukraine-estonia-map-b2031894.html |url-status=live }}</ref> All member states together cover an area of {{convert|25.07|e6km2|abbr=unit}} with a population of about 973 million people.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worlddata.info/alliances/nato.php |title=Members of the NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization |website=WorldData.info |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309125749/https://www.worlddata.info/alliances/nato.php|archive-date=9 March 2024 |access-date=22 February 2025 }}</ref> Their combined military spending {{as of|2022|lc=on}} constituted around 55 percent of [[List of countries by military expenditures|the global nominal total]].<ref name="sipri1">{{cite web |date=24 April 2023 |title=World military expenditure reaches new record high as European spending surges |url=https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2023/world-military-expenditure-reaches-new-record-high-european-spending-surges |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428171848/https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2023/world-military-expenditure-reaches-new-record-high-european-spending-surges |archive-date=28 April 2023 |access-date=29 April 2023 |publisher=SIPRI |url-status=live }}</ref> Moreover, members have agreed to reach or maintain the target defence spending of at least two percent of their [[GDP]] by 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Wales Declaration on the Transatlantic Bond |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_112985.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180610061817/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_112985.htm |archive-date=10 June 2018 |access-date=2 March 2024 |publisher=NATO |language=en}}</ref><ref name="NYT spending">{{Cite news |last=Erlanger |first=Steven |date=26 March 2014 |title=Europe Begins to Rethink Cuts to Military Spending |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/world/europe/europe-begins-to-rethink-cuts.html |url-status=live |access-date=3 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329132620/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/world/europe/europe-begins-to-rethink-cuts.html |archive-date=29 March 2014 |quote=Last year, only a handful of NATO countries met the target, according to NATO figures, including the United States, at 4.1 percent, and Britain, at 2.4 percent.}}</ref>

NATO formed with [[North Atlantic Treaty#Founding members|twelve founding members]] and has [[Enlargement of NATO|added new members]] ten times, most recently when [[Sweden]] joined the alliance on 7 March 2024.<ref name="swe-membership-final">{{cite web|title=Notification Reference No. 2024-008|url=https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/NATO-Sweden-Accession-Protocol-Notification-of-Entry-Into-Force-March-7-2024.pdf|website=United States Department of State|date=7 March 2024|access-date=7 March 2024|archive-date=7 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307141956/https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/NATO-Sweden-Accession-Protocol-Notification-of-Entry-Into-Force-March-7-2024.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, NATO recognizes [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], and [[Ukraine]] as aspiring members.<ref name="NATO Homepage" /> Enlargement has led to tensions with non-member [[Russia]], one of the 18 additional countries participating in NATO's [[Partnership for Peace]] programme. Another 35 countries and three international organizations are actively involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes with NATO.<ref>{{cite web | title=Topic: NATO’s partnerships | website=NATO | date=2024-08-06 | url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_84336.htm | access-date=2025-04-07}}</ref>