The Changing Role of NATO’s Secretary General

Abstract

At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), one of the more visible manifestations of ‘internationalization’ of the Alliance is the heightened political significance and presence of the Secretary General in the post-Cold War era. Created in 1952, three years after the Alliance’s formation, the individuals who have occupied this office since the Cold War’s end have increasingly become policy entrepreneurs: independent initiators of policy ideas and directions for the allies in leading NATO towards the end they desire. During the Cold War, this was much less the case. NATO’s Secretaries General were often very talented diplomats, who at times exercised important independent influence on Alliance politics. Yet, they often were limited greatly by the political influence exercised by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), the Alliance’s conservative strategic outlook, and often by the generally unadventurous leadership approaches taken by the individuals who held this office (Jordan with Bloome 1979). In the post-Cold War era, these leaders have produced a far greater impact, though their influence is still limited by larger systemic and institutional constraints. As NATO has taken on a wider set of political and military operations, and as NATO’s strategic mandate has broadened, so too have the opportunities for the Secretary General to successfully act as a policy entrepreneur and internationalized actor who is turned to by the allies for guidance and leadership in shaping policy.