In Washington D.C. this July, NATO cautiously celebrates its 75th anniversary. With war raging on its Eastern front since 2022, and a potential conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific, NATO faces immense challenges. But these tribulations – looming conflict, a polluted global information ecosystem, threats posed by terrorism and even climate change – are also opportunities for the world’s longest-lasting alliance.
Where is NATO headed, and how will U.S. politics shape America’s future role in the alliance, especially if Donald Trump—if elected—refuses to uphold NATO’s Article 5? In order to understand new developments in transatlantic security, the John Adams Institute and the Netherlands Atlantic Association are keen to welcome Ivo Daalder, CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. From 2009 to 2013, Daalder was the permanent U.S. representative to NATO under President Barack Obama, he has served in the United States Security Council during the Clinton administration and was foreign policy advisor for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
The stakes for NATO have never been higher, as the idea of the West, and maybe even liberal democracy itself, hangs in the balance. Elections in the United States and throughout Europe and the Western world have recently undergone a shift toward populist, strong-man politics: a form that is distinctly at odds with the consensus-based spirit of NATO. What the future holds is anyone’s guess, but on the fate of NATO and the hundreds of millions of citizens the alliance protects, Daalder will have insights and wisdom to share.
