NATO Through Time

What is the difference between NATO members and partners?  Why did Finland and Sweden set aside decades of neutrality and apply for NATO membership in 2022?  What can Finland’s experience living next-door to Russia, and its 900,000-strong reserve forces, teach the rest of the Alliance?  In this episode, Sauli Niinistö, who served as President of Finland from 2012 to 2024, talks about Finland’s experience of military non-alignment for more than seven decades, including almost 30 years of NATO partnership. He walks listeners through Finland’s decision to apply for NATO membership alongside Sweden in 2022, and the process of transitioning from NATO partner to NATO member. He also speaks about his role as a Special Adviser to the European Union on strengthening Europe’s civil and military preparedness and readiness, and what Europe needs to do to boost its resilience against growing hybrid threats.

Why does NATO conduct missions outside of its territory?  What were the different aims and lessons learned of NATO’s missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan and Iraq?  What is Canada’s role in a transatlantic alliance that is often framed as a balancing act between the United States and European Allies?  In this episode, General Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, walks us through her distinguished military career. She served on a demining team during a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, led an engineering regiment during a combat mission in Afghanistan, and was the first woman to lead a NATO mission when she took command of the advisory and capacity-building mission in Iraq in 2019. She also reflects on Canada’s role in NATO, including its contributions to the Alliance’s forward presence in Latvia, and her place in history as the first woman to lead Canada’s military.

What was it like learning about NATO while growing up in the former Yugoslavia?  Why did NATO launch “out-of-area” operations in the Western Balkans following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s?  What was the road to NATO membership like for Albania and Croatia, and how did these countries help pave the way for other countries in the region to join the Alliance?  In this episode, former President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović reflects on her country’s journey to independence and its decision to “rejoin the European family” by becoming a member of NATO and the European Union. She also speaks about how Croatia has helped other countries in southeast Europe join the Alliance, and how this experience will support the future membership of further countries, including Ukraine. In addition to serving as President of Croatia (2015-2020), she was also the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2005-2008), Ambassador to the United States (2008-2011) and NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy (2011-2014), so she played a crucial role in bringing Croatia into NATO and in its early years of membership in the Alliance.

How is Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty triggered, and what happens once it’s activated?  How did the 9/11 terrorist attacks impact both the United States and its NATO Allies, and why did NATO respond the way it did?  What was the significance of NATO’s operations in Afghanistan and how did they change the Alliance?  In this episode, former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson of Port Ellen shares his memories of 11 September 2001, and the historic months and years that followed, including the declaration of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and beginning of NATO operations in Afghanistan. He also discusses the difference between Allies’ involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, the optimism for NATO-Russia relations in the early 2000s, and advice he would give to the incoming Secretary General.

Why did the Baltic States and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe choose to join NATO after the end of the Cold War? Why was the 2004 enlargement of NATO known as the “Big Bang” enlargement? How do NATO’s smaller member countries contribute to the Alliance?  In this episode, former President of Latvia Dr Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga shares her extraordinary life story – from fleeing Latvia as a child at the end of the Second World War, to building a life in Canada for 50 years, to becoming President of Latvia after the country re-established its independence in 1991. Dr Vīķe-Freiberga reflects on her personal experiences, her country’s journey to becoming a NATO member in 2004 (alongside Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia), and on the future of NATO.