NATO at 70: The Past, Present, and Future of the Atlantic Alliance

The Strategy Bridge is excited to announce a new writing contest for 2019, an opportunity we’re opening up to our entire community! Allow us to repeat that point...you’re all eligible!

The theme of this contest is NATO at 70: The Past, Present, and Future of the Atlantic Alliance. NATO crossed the threshold of 70 years in 2019. From its humble origins at Dunkirk in 1947 to the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty two years later and throughout the long decades of the Cold War, NATO has been one of the most successful collective security architectures in history. Today it faces challenges it was never designed to address and a growing number of policymakers who question its very purpose. Whether NATO survives for another 70 years seems very much an open question. The Strategy Bridge looks to its international community to offer perspectives on all of these issues. 

Original submissions are highly encouraged, though unpublished, revised and reformatted professional military education papers that meet the standards of a professional journal and our submission guidelines will be considered. Some ideas for topics might include, but are not limited to:

  • The history of the NATO alliance, its successes and its failures

  • The impacts of previous additions and the prospects for future additions to the Alliance

  • Changes in the objectives of the NATO alliance and what those mean

  • What the NATO alliance means for theories of international relations, international security, etc.

  • NATO at War—The Alliance in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and elsewhere

  • Differing national perspectives on the NATO alliance

  • NATO organization past, present, and future

The competition is open to anyone. The competition deadline is 30 September 2019.  Winning articles will be announced in November 2019 and published on The Strategy Bridge thereafter.

AWARDS

A panel of judges gathered by The Strategy Bridge will evaluate entries based on originality, substance of argument, style, and contribution to advancing the understanding and practice of strategy.

  • First Place – Award of $500, publication in a special series in The Strategy Bridge journal.

  • Second Place – Award of $300, publication in a special series in The Strategy Bridge journal.

  • Third Place – Award of $100, publication in a special series in The Strategy Bridge journal.

HOW TO ENTER 

  • The Strategy Bridge will entertain articles  pertaining to NATO’s history and potential future between 2,000 and 5,000 words in length; notes and author biography are not considered in the word count. Submissions in excess of 5000 words will not be considered. Articles must include a short biography of the author or authors.

  • Given our broad audience in the national security profession, we require that submissions be free of jargon, acronyms, and idiosyncratic style; articles should be written for a general audience rather than a service- or national military-specific one. For more guidance, see our submission guidelines.

  • All citations must be provided as footnotes in Chicago style. (See links here, here, and here for online guidance/assistance in formatting.)

  • All graphs, charts, and tables should be submitted as separate files in the format they were created; please include appropriate attribution information.

  • Previously published articles are ineligible.

  • Articles pending consideration elsewhere for publication, or articles submitted to other competitions still pending announced decisions are eligible for this competition, but if the article is accepted elsewhere the author must inform The Strategy Bridge immediately.

  • Please send submissions in a Word document or Google Doc format to submissions@thestrategybridge.org.

For more info, contact The Strategy Bridge at submissions@thestrategybridge.org. You can find more info about The Strategy Bridge at https://thestrategybridge.org.


THE STRATEGY BRIDGE CONTEST PARTNERS

The Strategy Bridge Team