NATO’s North Atlantic Council

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance, with the purpose of achieving collective defense, originally founded as a result of the Western Union – which constituted an increasing military cooperation among western European countries in the aftermath of World War II – essentially incorporating the United States and Canada (among other countries) and creating a new organization with the signature of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4^th 1949.

While its role was clear during the Cold War, mainly ensuring the safety of western countries in face of the soviet danger, after the end of the Cold War, it redefined its purpose as that of promoting democratic values and ensuring the peaceful resolution of disputes, undertaking crisis-management operations in the case of diplomatic failures.

The North Atlantic Council (Article 9, North Atlantic Treaty) is the primary political decision-making body within NATO, supervising political and military procedures relative to decisions about the security of the Alliance, thus constituting the main authority at the head of all NATO committees. Subordinate committees prepare reports on the subjects that the Council is to discuss but the Secretary General as well as national representatives have the authority to raise issues.NAC includes representatives from all member countries, at the level of permanent representatives, who meet at least every week, at the level of foreign ministers, meeting twice a year and defense ministers, with three annual meetings and finally, at the level of heads of state, meeting at the NATO summit. Decision-making process within NAC entails unanimity and common accord, rendering NAC decisions the expression of the collective will of the Alliance. In that spirit, all countries participating in the Council or its committees maintain full sovereignty and responsibility for the decision that they support.