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NATO For the 21st Century: Ensuring Liberal Democracy In Europe

What does NATO stand for?

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) on April 4, 1949. Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

How many countries are a member of NATO today?

29 countries are members of NATO today: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada. Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

What is liberal democracy?

A liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy with free and fair elections, characterized by a competitive political process. All adult citizens are given the right to vote regardless of race, gender, or property ownership. A liberal democracy may take various constitutional forms such as constitutional republic, federal republic, constitutional monarchy, presidential system, parliamentary system, or a hybrid semi-presidential system. For example, the countries such as United States, India, Germany or Brazil take the form of a constitutional republic.

Was NATO able to achieve its original mission?

NATO certainly contributed to preventing communist expansion past the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. While the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact was created to counter NATO’s military alliance, ultimately no large-scale military conflict took place between traditional European powers.
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