< Back to previous page

Project

NATO and the law of international organizations: a critical appraisal of the Alliance's legal and institutional foundations

Title: NATO and the law of international organizations: a critical analysis of the Alliance's legal and institutional foundations

Summary: The doctoral dissertation aims to determine whether the legal and institutional foundations of NATO and its transformation are in compliance with the principles of the law of international organizations. As a core principle of the law of international organizations, the constitution of an international organization is what sets the pattern for the organization’s entire legal order. Such a constitution typically defines the powers and tasks attributed to the organization, sets out the institutional framework thereof (the organs, their composition and powers) and prescribes the decision-making procedures. However, the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, which is at the origins of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, states little more than ‘the Parties to the Agreement consider an armed attack against one as an armed attack against all’ (article 5). The Treaty does not even allude to NATO, the powers attributed to it, its organs, decision-making or enlargement procedures. Despite this, in a time span of 70 years, NATO has grown from 12 to 31 Member States, conducted over forty military operations and shifted its task increasingly from collective self-defence to collective security, taking action on issues such as cyber, terrorism and conflict management. Importantly, this was done without ever amending the North Atlantic Treaty. This goes contrary to the established practice of constitutional amendment of most other international organizations. In other words, NATO as an international organization appears to have grown organically and pragmatically rather than on a solid legal footing. This triggers the following question: to what extent has the Alliance respected, or rather departed from, the fundamental principles of the law of international organizations?

The doctoral dissertation is articulated around the following two research questions:

1) to what extent has NATO departed from the fundamental principles of the law of international organizations in transforming itself since 1949? 

2) How does one have to consider the North Atlantic Treaty if it cannot be regarded as a fully-fledged constituent treaty? 

This translates into the following specific research questions:

- Does NATO’s expansion of powers to include non-article 5 crisis-response operations violate the principle of attributed powers?

- Was NATO’s institutional framework created and transformed in accordance with the principle of the lawful establishment of subsidiary bodies and the lawful delegation of powers to them?

- Is the NATO Parliamentary Assembly a public international organization? 

- What is the legal basis of NATO’s immunity from jurisdiction?

- To what extent are NATO decisions made within the confines of the constituent instrument and established practice? 

- What is the legal effect of NATO decisions in light of the rule that international organizations cannot take binding operational decisions unless their constitutions expressly provide? 

- Does the expansion of the accession conditions away from article 10 North Atlantic Treaty constitute a tolerable treaty interpretation or does it impose new conditions?

- Absent a provision in the North Atlantic Treaty, is there a basis in international law for the suspension or expulsion of a NATO Member State? 

Date:1 Jan 2019 →  13 Jan 2024
Keywords:NATO, International Law, Law of International Organizations
Disciplines:International law
Project type:PhD project