Will the NATO Alliance Last Another 75 Years?
By Cathleen Jeanty
For the past 75 years, NATO has helped maintain transatlantic security by providing collective defence during wars, promoting international security, and conducting peacekeeping operations across the globe. Throughout its existence, NATO has played a seminal role in peacekeeping efforts including ones that led to the enforcement of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the Bosnian War in 1995; the enactment of Operation Ocean Shield, the now defunct international effort to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa; and supporting global arms control and disarmament initiatives, such as ones that align with initiatives like the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
With its manifestly collectivist credo that is evidenced in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, “an attack on one member is considered an attack on all,”[i] NATO may seem poised to remain the leading global political and military alliance. But in 2024, NATO has found a conflict it has yet to solve: the problem of meaningful youth inclusion. Though NATO has long propped up a myriad of peacekeeping efforts across the globe, it may soon crumble under the weight of its inability to adapt. As the world’s most powerful military alliance approaches its 75th birthday, it is worth asking: does NATO have what it takes to last another 75 years? Not without a stronger mechanism to cultivate the next generation of leaders. Without this, NATO’s longevity is at risk.
In 2015, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security (“Youth, Peace, and Security”),[ii] an historic resolution that recognized the important role youth play in maintaining peace and security processes around the world. This resolution identifies five key pillars for action: the first of which is participation. In line with this resolution, many multilateral institutions have made marked efforts to usher young people into their ecosystems by creating youth councils and delegations to teach young people the ins and outs of their institutions’ processes. But at NATO, a clear, long-term participatory pathway is missing. Beyond NATO’s one-day Youth Summit and more short-term initiatives, there is no existing long-standing mechanism for young people to get involved in NATO’s affairs.
The Need for a Youth Offensive at NATO
Since the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS), the international community has catalysed a number of mechanisms to include young people in their processes. In 2023, the United Nations appointed its first Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs. The European Union created its framework EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 (EU-CoE youth partnership, “EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027”),[iii] which lists specific objectives related to youth empowerment, engagement, and inclusion in policy-making. The Nordic countries have created the Nordic Youth Council. Though geographically these measures span far and wide, it is worth asking: has that reach extended to the entirety of the Alliance? Despite these advancements, NATO has yet to fully integrate youth voices into its framework.
NATO has evolved quite markedly since its 1949 inception, but perhaps, not fast enough. At the time of its founding, NATO was meant to provide collective solutions to the preeminent global security challenges that were rising, namely tensions from the Cold War, economic reconstruction stemming from the fallout of World War II, and nuclear non-proliferation. But in 2024, the shadows of these tensions remain, and, in fact, loom larger than ever before. And an inability to adapt to these geopolitical tensions may be NATO’s undoing. The major powers, namely the United States, China, and Russia, remain at odds. These tensions are magnified by the omnipresent colossal threats of climate change, which both the Department of Defence and NATO call a “threat multiplier,”[iv] and cybersecurity, which is becoming a more common tool of warfare. As a means of adaptation, NATO has expanded beyond its initial scope to be more inclusive of youth and civil society voices. But it’s not enough.
In 2009, NATO launched the Young Leaders Forum. In 2012, NATO held the first Youth Summit in Brussels to enhance youth participation in discussions on security policy. In 2020, NATO established the 2030 Young Leaders group: a group of 14 emerging leaders from across the Alliance selected to provide input on bolstering the future of NATO. These measures, though incrementally efficient generational bridges, largely serve as short-lived palliatives that need to be further strengthened in order to be made more effective. While nationwide youth councils provide a strong foundation for youth to discuss shared challenges, it is essential for NATO’s strategic priorities to include establishing a youth council that operates on a grander scale. The future of transatlantic collective defence depends on it.
After manifesting the first pillar, participation, of the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution on Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS),[v] transatlantic youth will have a stronger platform to reach pillar 2: protection. Like parts of a body, each of the 32 NATO member states plays a different role in maintaining the security of the Alliance. Italy’s geographic location offers NATO strategic access to the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans region. The United States maintains the most technologically advanced military in NATO and consequently makes one of the largest military and financial contributions to the Alliance. Canada’s location in the Arctic region is strategically important to NATO, particularly as climate change poses an increased geopolitical threat to the Arctic. Greece’s military bases and facilities serve as a bulwark that provides support for NATO’s operations and deployments in the region.
Because each NATO member state has a different role in the Alliance, each country’s delegates bring much-needed diversity of perspective. An American, whose nation was a founding member of NATO, will have a different view on its necessity and efficacy than a Swede, whose nation just became a full member of NATO this year. An Icelander, whose home is often cited as a global leader in gender equality and boasts one of the highest rates of women’s labour force participation in the world, may have innovative views on how to diminish gender-based violence. A young Norwegian, with its national recognition for environmental stewardship and peace and diplomacy, will likely have great recommendations for the future of environmental diplomacy. A young Greek person has likely endured a level of unemployment-related stress that a young person in Germany may never know and thus have innovative ideas about lowering youth unemployment. A young Turk, living under Erdogan and the nation’s diminishing civil society participation, heightened youth migration, and political instability, has a different view on the urgency of democracy than a young Dane, whose homeland regularly ranks among the most socially and environmentally sustainable in the world.
Creating a NATO Youth Council would give young people from each of the 32 member states a place to foment dialogue and offer their unique views and geopolitical fears. This would be an asset in any era but is increasingly necessary in the face of the NATO 2030 initiative, an agenda meant to ensure NATO remains competitive in our globalised world.[vi] Offering young people pathways to raise awareness of their concerns would also help facilitate Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) pillar 3: prevention. As the old maxim goes, those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. For next generation practitioners to avoid repeating history, NATO Youth Council’s members would have the chance to learn from and interact with member states’ defence and interior ministries, counterterrorism officials, NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT), and more. This early engagement and participatory pipeline would help capture young, counterterrorism talent at the earliest stages and train young leaders to navigate the space. Though NATO currently leads in international cooperation, its enduring relevance depends on establishing a solid mechanism to engage a new generation of citizens who can navigate future global complexities and prevent conflicts. Otherwise, NATO’s relevance will fade. This will have catastrophic implications that will lead to heightened geopolitical tensions, fractured relationships with allies, and a resurgence of age-old conflicts.
If NATO is to sustain another 75 years, young people’s perspectives need to be integrated into policy. The NATO Youth Council would allow for young professionals from member states to garner a stronger role in decision-making at the local, national, regional, and international levels—beyond just a one-day youth summit or the organisation’s other short-term initiatives. The youth delegate program should include training, mentorship, and promote intergenerational collaboration. Young people have fresh ideas, new perspectives, and are not bogged down by the generational biases that plague the generations before us. Setting up mechanisms that would enable young people to participate meaningfully in NATO processes would help set up a new generation of young transatlantic residents to help maintain the Alliance. This generational stopgap would give credence to youth voices in a world where many young people already harbour a considerable amount of uncertainty about the necessity of NATO in a post-Cold War world.
Offering youth delegates space to collaborate with veteran diplomats and peace and security practitioners would give young people the means to prevent future interstate and intrastate conflicts. This would emphasise the role of young people as agents of positive change in promoting social cohesion, tolerance, and resilience in their communities, which will lead seamlessly into Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) pillar 4: partnership. The NATO Youth Council would provide youth delegates the chance to work closely with stakeholders from NATO member countries and partners. The delegates can also sectorize across the organisation’s various divisions and work in their own areas of expertise. Some may argue that young people do not have the competencies to be at the table for high-stakes decision-making processes. However, in a world as interconnected as ours, intergenerational partnership is a non-negotiable way to learn. Giving young people the tools to build these partnerships will facilitate a smoother transition to pillar 5: disengagement and reintegration.
Many young people have had to endure the trauma of living in conflict zones. By incorporating the principles of disengagement and reintegration, NATO can develop policies that are inclusive of young people who have been affected by conflict. This includes former combatants, refugees, and other vulnerable groups, ensuring they have a voice in the peace and security discourse and receive the psychosocial support they deserve. The NATO Youth Council would be truly representative, and member states would be able to nominate two youth delegates to ensure diverse perspectives and equal representation.
The NATO Youth Council terms would be fixed, two-year terms to allow members to work on long-term projects. This would give members enough time to deeply and meaningfully engage with NATO’s processes and contribute. The members of the youth council will hold monthly meetings and an annual summit where council members can discuss their progress, share insights, and engage directly with senior NATO officials. As a training mechanism, the members of the youth council would go to workshops on leadership, diplomacy, conflict resolution, cybersecurity, and other relevant topics. Each year, the members of the council can publish annual impact reports that document the council’s achievements, challenges, and recommendations. These reports can help demonstrate the value of youth engagement to NATO’s mission.
Youth Council members can also draft NATO’s Declaration on Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS). This declaration can include policy recommendations and suggestions for governments and civil society groups, set new objectives for the future, and sectorize across themes of security and defence, transatlantic relations, and military spending and allocation. In addition, they can collaborate with leading stakeholders to develop a mental health toolkit for young people in conflict areas. This would help set a precedent for the future of Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) at NATO and build a world that is safer, more resilient, and better prepared to usher in a whole new generation of youth, peace, and security practitioners into the NATO ecosystem.
In 2024, as the world grapples with unprecedented threats, the need for dedicated peace and security practitioners has never been greater. By empowering the next generation through the NATO Youth Council, NATO can secure a legacy of peace and stability that will endure for the next 75 years and beyond. The time to act is now—NATO’s future depends on it.
About the Author
Cathleen Jeanty is an Innovation Fellow at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a Policy Officer at Youth Transforming Narratives, and the Deputy International Affairs Officer at the Young Democrats of America. In the past, she was an editor at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy; a Chapter Director at Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS); and a Public Information Editor at The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei. She has been instrumental in crafting youth statements, including America’s National Youth Statement on Climate and America’s Youth Declaration on Human Rights. Cathleen is a NextGen member of Foreign Policy for America and spoke at the 2024 International Youth Conference. She is the winner of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group’s 2024 international essay contest.
Notes
[i] "Counter-Piracy Operations (Archived)," NATO, accessed May 26, 2024, https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm.
[ii] United Nations, “Youth, Peace, and Security,” accessed May 12, 2024, https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/youth-peace-and-security/
[iii] EU-CoE youth partnership. "EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027." Accessed May 27, 2024. https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/youth-partnership/recognition-resources/-/asset_publisher/llpkrN7I27by/content/eu-youth-strategy-2019-2027.
[iv] “Why Climate Change Is a National Security Risk,” Columbia Climate School, accessed May 12, 2024, https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/10/11/why-climate-change-is-a-national-security-risk/
[v] “Youth, Peace, and Security,” United Nations, accessed May 12, 2024, https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/youth-peace-and-security/
[vi] NATO, "NATO 2030: United for a New Era," NATO, accessed June 5, 2024, https://www.nato.int/nato2030/.
Image: https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pictures/images_mfu/2024/5/13a-youth-summit/240513a-005.jpg
