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2009 is a special year for the NATO. The North Atlantic Alliance is celebrating 60 years of solidarity and the shared goal of peace, security and stability. Thus the Alliance presents its achievements through a special celebration Website and internet-spots, which especially address a younger audience.

You are in a crowded, run-down basement. Lights are flashing in your eyes and your heart is racing. You've broken out in a sweat and it's running down your back. People are anxious. Someone is screaming. Danger seems imminent.

Suddenly, your perspective changes, and this menacing situation reveals itself to be a party scene. In reality the dark basement is the venue for a rave, and people are dancing and having a good time. We are reminded of the fact that peace, security and freedom of expression cannot be taken for granted – and of the purpose and mission behind NATO's 60-year existence.

We would like to invite you to join a debate about these NATO videos and their deeper implications. Do young people in NATO member nations take peace and security for granted? Do conceptual videos like this one help raise visibility about NATO's purpose and achievements? How do you think NATO can best enable young people to connect to the core values of the transatlantic alliance?

Let us know what you think, either by leaving your comment here:

http://www.atlantic-community.org/index/articles/view/Is_Freedom_for_Free%3F_Join_the_Debate%21

or by posting one of the videos on your blog, with a link to the above page.

Founded in 1949, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established to build a collective security alliance to defend against Soviet expansionism.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, twelve new member nations have joined the Alliance, and its focus has shifted to regional conflict prevention in Europe and curtailing global terrorism. The terrorist atrocities of September 11th, 2001 prompted the first-ever invocation of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which calls for a collective response by all allied nations in the event of an attack on any single member. With operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Mediterranean and off the Horn of Africa, as well as many other programs such as logistics and training support in a number of additional theaters, NATO is arguably of greater importance than ever in its more active current role.

Despite its increased significance, some recent studies on public acceptance of NATO's cause and mission present conflicting data. While the German Marshall Fund's 2008 Transatlantic Trends survey finds that 57% of Europeans believe NATO is still essential to their nation's security, the exact same percentage of respondents to a recent EURANET poll believe NATO has lost its relevance after the end of the Cold War. Similarly, the Transatlantic Trends survey indicates that Europeans support reconstruction and training efforts in Afghanistan, yet 57% do not favor combat missions against the Taliban. Pollsters agree that such discrepancies of results are caused by the wording and timing of polls: many are only conducted after serious incidents, thereby affecting perception of NATO's foreign deployments negatively.

However, such fluctuations in public opinion are also indicative of a general lack of understanding about NATO's mission and activities. The Bundeswehr Institute of Social Sciences' 2008 survey concludes that “most Germans have no concrete knowledge of current Bundeswehr missions abroad, or have never even heard of them,” and yet “they are nevertheless supported by a large majority of the population.”

In a recent statement, Stefanie Babst, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Strategy, criticized the tendency of public diplomacy in general to be more about “the talk and less about the walk.” In order to be a credible international actor, NATO should ensure complete continuity between policy and public diplomacy. This means that the Alliance must work more to ensure that the wider public is better informed.

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NATO, video, peace, security, alliance, freedom, anniversary, 60 years, future, young, strategic concept, military, Europe, Afghanistan, Kosovo

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