Believe It or Not...

 ANALYSIS

NATO’s Remarkable Revival

But the bloc’s future could look very different from its past.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023, 11:30 PM

By Jo Inge Bekkevold, a senior China fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies.

An illustration shows an expanding shield with the NATO alliance logo on it.

ALEX NABAUM ILLUSTRATION FOR FOREIGN POLICY

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When NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary at its Washington summit next year, it will do so from a position of unity and strength. This is a remarkable turnaround from only a few years ago, when trans-Atlantic ties were clouded by mutual suspicion and uncertainty about the bloc’s future. The first large-scale war of aggression in Europe since World War II has reinvigorated the alliance, which now has more member states and greater geographic cohesion than ever before. NATO’s renaissance comes just in time—it may soon face an entirely new geopolitical landscape that will once again test its cohesion and adaptability.