Introduction

The Alliance was launched in 1949 by 12 members to promote collective defence (article 5) and to foster political and defence cooperation among its members (article 2). While collective defence remains at the core of North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) mission, crisis management and cooperative security allow the Alliance to engage on multiple levels and to respond to a wide range of security challenges around the world. As NATO’s mission and strategic vision changed over the years, so has the work of historians. The end of the Cold War and the transformation of the Alliance initiated a debate among historians about the significance of NATO as a political forum that promotes cooperation among existing and with prospective members. Broadly speaking, looking at NATO as a political forum has allowed historians to move away from a narrow focus on the key members and to bring the smaller countries into their framework of analysis.