The Political Environment. Strains on Allied Unity To adapt to this changing security environment, NATO will need to maintain its unity and address potential impediments to collective action. NATO’s unity derives from the unshakeable shared com- mitment of Allies to the common values outlined in the North Atlantic Treaty: ‘democracy, individual liberty and rule of law.’ The fact that Allies remain wedded to these founda- tional values is the single most important factor in ensuring the durability of the Alliance over seven decades. A shared democratic identity is what distinguishes the Alliance from the principal threats and challenges it faces. As befits a community of sovereign democratic states, NATO has never been “A shared democratic identity is what distin- guishes the Alliance from the principal threats and challenges it faces.” able to achieve complete harmony and has been through periods of tension and divergence. Allies have occasionally disagreed in the past over interests and values, sometimes straining the Alliance. Yet another key to NATO’s success is that it has been resilient in the face of many challenges because Allies do not deviate, even under strained circumstances, from an inviolable commitment to defending each other’s security. Alongside a basic platform of shared values, therefore, stands a willingness to take collective action. Recent years have seen a series of political challenges facing NATO Allies and a period of unusual turbulence in Western societies. Some of this is the result of strains caused by the 2008 global financial crisis, which prompted a questioning of aspects of international order. Trust and faith in democratic and international institutions has decreased, alongside heightened tensions over trade and competition for resources, exacerbated by developments in EDTs, and the spread of disinformation. More broadly, the confidence of the post-Cold War era – in which it was believed that the spread of democracy and free markets would continue inexorably – has been much diminished, with a so-called ‘democratic recession,’ the global erosion of democratic norms, and the rise of authoritarianism. In some respects, XXXX’s political role more closely resembles the pre-1989 period when it was a bulwark of democracy against an authoritarian challenger. That is why it is vital that Allies, even as they are more cautious about exporting democracy, do not allow the erosion of democracy (intentionally or uninten- tionally) to infect their own polities. Whi...
