NATO looks south: priorities, strategies and instruments

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the way the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) addresses security challenges on its southern flank. At the Madrid summit (29-30 June 2022), the allies acknowledged the importance of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Sahel and the Middle East as a space of global geopolitical competition and an area with worrying levels of human insecurity and foci of instability. NATO could play a more constructive role on its southern flank by: 1) improving stabilisation and crisis management approaches and instruments; 2) finding ways to transform partners from security consumers to security providers; 3) enhancing NATO maritime capabilities and partnerships; 4) strengthening coordination and cooperation with the European Union (EU) and, when possible, with other regional organisations; 5) exploring common ground among NATO’s Mediterranean members; 6) increasing anticipation capacities, including by cultivating a more structured relationship with political, economic and social experts and research centres.