NATO na przełomie wieków : sojusz przeobrażony

In the course of its over fifty-year activity, NATO managed to adapt to changes in the security environment. During the Cold War it effectively deterred its opponents from the Warsaw Pact. In the nineties it developed the Partnership for Peace Programme and started the process of enlargement. It also undertook some important security missions in the Balkans and adapted and changed its organisation. September 11 opened a new chart in NATO history. Almost immediately after this tragic event NATO appealed to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty for the first time in its history. During the summit in Prague in autumn 2002, the leaders of countries and governments made decisions of a strategic character that change the current face of NATO to enlarge NATO more, to reform the command structures and to call NATO response Force (NRF) The allies committed to improve their military capabilities signing Prague Capabilities Commitment. Eight key areas necessary for the Alliance to function in new conditions were defined. The reform of command structures, creating NATO Response Force and initiative to improve its defence capabilities was accompanied by a supreme idea to start transforming NATO so that it could undertake new challenges in order to fight against new threats, terrorism in particular. However, the summit in Prague did not solve completely certain essential NATO members’ problems, especially important after September 11. This refers to the NATO global range of activity, relations between defence and stabilisation functions, possibility of creating ad hoc coalitions and conducting prevention actions.