Can NATO Meet Defense Challenges in an Era of Austerity?
Abstract
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has strived since 1949 to safeguard the security and freedom of its member countries. However, in the coming decade, NATO will have to operate in an environment of fiscal austerity and declining defense budgets. The onset of the global economic crisis has forced all major force contributors to NATO to trim their defense budgets. These cuts have been driven almost entirely by the need to reduce large budget deficits not by a change in the perception of external threats. For the most part, cuts have been made with little intra-Alliance coordination. If this uncoordinated process of reduction continues, NATO risks losing critical capabilities that could seriously erode the Alliance s ability to meet the security challenges it will face in the second decade of the 21st century. A recent RAND report discusses the impact of current and planned austerity measures on NATO Europe s ability to meet 21st century security challenges. The report also presents a number of suggestions for NATO policymakers to consider as they seek to do more with less.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA570027
Entities
Organizations
- RAND Corporation