ABSTRACT
In 1980, the American sociologist Alvin Toffler proclaimed that the world was undergoing a transformation that would result in a new civilization. This chapter examines insistence that North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) future challenges can only be assessed in the context of the alliance's historical evolution—a context that reveals NATO to have been changing, over time, in ways redolent of the mooted "transformation." The security challenges facing NATO do lack the simplicity of those of the Cold War. On the national level, a variety of responses to the new security situation have been glimpsed. A common thread even runs through the reactions of alliance members: with a few exceptions, they have been contemplating making immediate savings on military expenditure. In making assessments of the claim for transformation of NATO, one must bear in mind that nowhere in the evidence is there any debate on the charter of the alliance.
