After the Soviet Union’s collapse in the early 1990s, the alliance took on a wider role. NATO forces — made up of troops volunteered by member states — operated as peacekeepers in Bosnia in the 1990s and bombed Serbia in 1999 to protect Kosovo, where the alliance still has troops.
Which countries are in NATO?
In addition to the United States and Canada, the 10 other countries that became part of NATO in 1949 were: Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Britain.
Since then, 19 more European states have joined: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
Other European countries, such as Ireland and Austria, have, over the years, avoided joining, often because of a policy of neutrality. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted two traditionally nonaligned countries, Sweden and Finland, to reconsider.
They announced plans to seek membership in May and received formal invitations in June, but their paths have since diverged.
Jesus Jiménez
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