NATO Research

RUSI has had a historic role in charting the progress of this enduring transatlantic alliance. The study of NATO has long formed a key component of RUSI's programmes of research. Today the changing role and structure of the Alliance continues to be a major focus of study. Collected below are recent research reports and papers on the subject of NATO.

France's NATO Reintegration

On 11 March 2009, President Sarkozy announced France's return to the NATO Military Command structure. This RUSI Occasional Paper, published in ancitipation of that decision, examines the context and implications of French reintegration. It considers domestic debates about the issue and the personal role of President Sarkozy in instigating a fresh approach to the Alliance. The paper examines France's current role in NATO and the likely changes reintegration will bring.

France's NATO Reintegration >

France's return to the Alliance command structure was also on the agenda at a RUSI seminar in Paris in early 2008.

France, EU and NATO: Fresh views with the Sarkozy Presidency? >

NATO at Sixty: Strategic and Operational Challenges

Published after the Bucharest Summit, this report considered current and future challenges for the enduring Alliance. Sixty years after its inception, NATO faces an international security environment far more complex than the cold war it was born into. The Alliance structure, this paper argues, is unsuited to the world of risk it now inhabits. A new strategic concept is required, one that is both forward looking and based up on terms that all allies can adhere to.

Strategic and Operational Challenges >

Research and Policy Papers for Allied Command Transformation

Commissioned by Allied Command Transformation, these three pairs of research and policy papers consider NATO's role in a world of new threats and vulnerabilities. At issue here are NATO's role in providing energy security, the Alliance's contribution to homeland security, and the strategic risks of an unpredictable world.

Energy Security Research Paper, Energy Security Policy Paper

Homeland Security Research Paper, Homeland Security Policy Paper

Future Security Research Paper, Future Security Policy Paper

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer developed the theme of NATO and energy security in an article for the RUSI Journal:

Nato and the Challenge of Energy Security >

What Lies Beneath

This report, produced in association with CSIS, takes a critical look at the Alliance's current shape. NATO, it is argued, is suffering from strategic drift. Though political concerns may warrant caution in developing a new strategic concept, some of the challenges NATO currently faces demand immediate attention.

What Lies Beneath >

NATO Force Generation

Alliance procedures for mobilizing and deploying national forces for Alliance operations were widely perceived to have floundered during the early stages of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan. In October 2004, RUSI was commissioned to conduct a year-long study and analysis of NATO’s processes and principles of operational force generation. This report is the culmination of that study. Its recommendations were intended to feed into the preparation for the following heads of government summit.

NATO Force Generation Report >

NATO Analysis

Articles from RUSI's publications and online commentaries on the subject of NATO are available at RUSI NATO Analysis >

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