NATO in a globalised world

07 February 2011

Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero

NATO was formed in April 1949 in response to the rapidly emerging Soviet threat to the nations of Western Europe and North America. Its founding treaty declared that an attack against one of its member states would be considered an attack against them all.

Sixty two years later, the threats facing NATO's members have changed considerably. Direct attack by an outside state seems unlikely and instead the alliance currently confronts a diverse array of challenges, ranging from terrorism and nuclear proliferation to piracy, cyber attacks, and the disruption of energy supplies. It maintains a training mission in Iraq, a peacekeeping force in Kosovo, and leads the complex international effort in Afghanistan.

Some argue that the end of the Cold War left NATO without a role and it has spent the past decade trying, unsuccessfully, to find a new one. Others advocate that NATO is critical to the maintenance of global peace and security in the 21st century.

In his only public lecture in Australia, NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero will address the current and future role of NATO in a globalised world.

Broad Topics:

Sub-topics: International Law, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture

Areas: ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific

Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero is a career diplomat who has represented Italy in Beijing and Washington, at the United Nations in New York, and at NATO in Brussels. In 2007 he was appointed as the NATO Deputy Secretary General.