Alas, the reality is quite different. Far from being an alliance among equals, Nato is one of the key institutions through which the US has exercised its control over post-war Western Europe. As the researchers Rajan Menon and William Ruger argue in a recent paper: “Nato’s continued existence ensures that Europe remains a strategic subordinate to the US, which explains why the US, though it has complained often about inequitable burden sharing, has never demanded a dramatic increase in European military power, let alone a Europe with an autonomous defence policy.” Rather fittingly, it was none other than Lord Ismay, Nato’s first Secretary General, who observed that the purpose of the Alliance was to “keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down”.
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