NATO’s“Brain Death”: A Legal Perspective

Abstract

At present, NATO is facing a severe crisis and has showed symptoms of disintegration and polarization of the relations between its Member States. At the last head meeting of the organization’s Council, in December 2019, in London, French President Emmanuel Macron qualified NATO’s current crisis as a “brain death.” From a legal perspective, the main cause of this alleged “brain death” is the organization’s special status under international law. In fact, NATO has constantly violated its constitutive treaty and many other international conventional and customary norms, including ius cogens rules. However, the organization has never assumed any negative legal consequences for its internationally unlawful behavior. This situation has reduced the legitimacy of the institution and has corroded, from the inside and the outside, states’ will to cooperate with the fulfilment of its objectives. Thus, NATO could only surmount its current crisis and continue to play a crucial role as a guardian of the international peace and security and as a promoter of the rule of law at the global level, if it accepts to submit its political and military power to international law.