Russia in Global Affairs

This spring NATO will celebrate its 77th anniversary. That is a respectable age for an international organization, but modest by historical standards. Experience teaches that no structure exists forever. Still, statements by Western European politicians suggesting that a direct conflict between the US and Denmark could lead to “the end of NATO” are meant to terrify everyone involved.

NATO will likely endure, simply because large institutions possess momentum and inertia. But if nearly all the major institutions built in the second half of the 20th century are now in crisis due to changed circumstances, one question becomes unavoidable: why should NATO be the exception?