NATO formed fast after Nazi surrender but stayed long after its Soviet enemy vanished.
Evidence
Just two and a half years elapsed from the Nazi surrender to the beginning of serious high-level talks among, first, the Europeans and, second, the Americans about the creation of an alliance to protect against the Soviet threat. By mid-1948, it was evident to all concerned that an alliance would be necessary, and by 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty had been signed. In contrast, NATO declared the cold war over with its Declaration from Turnberry in June 1990, just seven months after the break in the Berlin Wall. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 46
Categorization
- SEED: The asymmetry-of-timing argument — fast formation, slow dissolution — is itself a usable analytical frame for why institutions outlive their founding threats.
- XREF: connects to: Analysts expected NATO to die once its Soviet enemy vanished. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 12; NATO has expanded rather than dissolved after the Soviet threat ended. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 15; NATO reoriented itself after the Cold War and stayed valuable without a compelling threat — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 29 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- NATO’s institutionalization beyond mutual defense explains its persistence after its founding threat vanished.
#expands(0.95) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 107 - NATO survived the cold war’s end due to institutionalization, not merely threats
#expands(0.93) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 152 - NATO reoriented itself after the Cold War and stayed valuable without a compelling threat
#expands(0.88) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 29 - NATO stayed cohesive despite neorealist predictions of its collapse
#expands(0.84) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 57 - Alliance cohesion theories predict NATO should have dissolved after the Soviet threat vanished
#expands(0.82) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 40 - NATO redefined the post-Soviet threat as indirect but real to justify persisting.
#expands(0.80) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 86