Debates on defense spending and burden sharing within NATO have been a recurring item on the transatlantic security agenda since the Alliance’s founding. Defense expenditures represent more than the allocation of financial resources to meet states’ security needs; they serve as tangible indicators of Alliance solidarity, collective defense capacity, and strategic commitment. In particular, the United States’ (U.S.) preponderant military and economic weight within NATO has kept alive persistent questions about the extent to which European allies contribute to the defense burden. Burden-sharing debates that emerged in response to the Soviet threat during the Cold War have since taken on new dimensions in light of developments including post-Cold War defense budget reductions, the shifting security threats of the post-September 11 environment, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
This analysis aims to examine the debates on defense spending and burden sharing within NATO within a historical and theoretical framework. In this context, it first addresses the place of the concepts of defense spending and burden sharing in the literature, before going on to explore the historical development of burden-sharing debates within NATO. The analysis’s central argument is that, when the transformation underway in the European security architecture is taken into account, the debates on defense spending within NATO constitute not merely a matter of economic burden sharing, but a strategic issue with direct bearing on the sustainability of the transatlantic security architecture, the nature of U.S. leadership, and the future of the Alliance.
