3. NATO’s Partnerships

This chapter provides an overview and assessment of NATO’s partnerships with non-members. The chapter explores how NATO’s partnerships have evolved from the Partnership for Peace (PfP), established in the early 1990s and targeted primarily at post-communist states in Central and Eastern Europe, to a wider set of partnerships involving not only non-NATO European states, but also Mediterranean and Middle Eastern states and a group of global partners, as well as partnerships with other international organisations (in particular the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the African Union). The chapter explores the complex institutional architecture which NATO has put in place to support its partnerships, as well as the relationship between partnership and NATO enlargement. The chapter identifies four general roles which NATO plays—defence, collective security, cooperative security and integration—and discusses how NATO’s partnerships interact with the Alliance’s wider roles and identity.