Diplomats have long known that an alliance can only be strong militarily if it is founded upon a non-military base. The North Atlantic Treaty never defined precisely the nature of any possible aggression, and it has broadly been left to member nations to decide when intervention might be necessary, and what assets might be needed for it.

NATO was created to preserve freedom in the face of a Soviet threat that has now been replaced by an Islamic one. Though essentially a military alliance, it is inseparable from the desire to create an Atlantic political community.

In his speech to the UN on 28 September 1948, Paul-Henri Spaak said that he did not wish to name any particular political regime, but after having fought against both fascism and Hitlerism, the Alliance members had no desire to submit themselves to any other authoritarian or totalitarian doctrine. Above all, then, NATO is founded on a political choice and as a result sets political objectives for preserving peace and promoting an Atlantic community based on common democratic values. At the time the Atlantic Alliance was set up it was essential to avoid a repetition of the ‘February revolution’ in Prague in 1948, and this was done through pooling of members’ defence assets. Successive Secretaries General of the Organisation soon insisted on the need to evolve from the concept of an alliance to that of a community. Where once common heritage and civilisation were spoken of as the ethnic links, the expression ‘Atlantic world’ is now widely accepted as a geopolitical term in its own right.