While the UN is a truly international body representing the interests
of many states across the modern world, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
has far more modest claims to fame. It is, at its core, a transatlantic security organisation designed to lock together the interests of Europe and North America. Unlike the UN, NATO does not pretend to multi-task. It is a military organisation that since its foundation in 1949 has had a well-defined ‘hard power’ role in IR: to deter, plan, fight and win wars. One of the great ironies of NATO is that it never engaged in combat during the Cold War – the conflict it was designed to fight. Since 1991, however, it has gone to war many times: first in Kosovo and now in Afghanistan, where it is massively committed. As of August 2011, it was engaged in anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast and in air operations to protect civilian lives and support the Libyan Transitional National Council against the Gaddafi regime.