The Atlantic Alliance and the New Strategic Concept

Abstract

The strategic concept of the Atlantic Alliance has evolved beginning with the incorporation of new countries and the need to respond and adapt to international changes. The author discusses the evolution of this latest concept and describes and analyzes in detail the newstrategic concept approved in April 1999, which is considered both groundbreaking and a demonstration of continuity. Continuity because it reaffirms collective defense as the backbone of the Alliance and groundbreaking because it attempts to contribute, decisively, to security in the broad sense of the Euro-Atlantic area, to the approved enlargement of the organization, to the fostering of good relations with Russia and the Ukraine and to the creation of a European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI). On this last point, Javier Conde explores the difficulties of constructing this identity within the EU’s present framework and reminds the reader howdeterminate the transatlantic link with the United States is for Europeans.