The Nordic NATO pivot a stronghold for regional and global peace or a fragile region with turbulent seas and crowded skies?

Abstract

Imagine Nepal as a small state left an alliance-free foreign policy on short notice, seeking membership in a regional military alliance. Imagine your defense minister few weeks back said s/he was against membership and your prime minister expressed serious reservations. Imagine a historical decision is nevertheless taken in what is characterized as an unprecedented threatening context. Another neighbor launches a full-scale military attack on a third country in your region. After hasty deliberations and consultations, the government, following parliamentary voting, decides to apply for membership. Presumably, it would be felt like a seismic jolt. The political earthquake would occupy political leaders, historians and military and security analysts catapulted to rethink military integration and cooperation involving land, seas, and skies domains. Fear-struck citizens hope the military alliance’s protective embrace will secure peace in an atomic era of mounting great power rivalry in a melting and warming world.