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The Politics of Collective Inaction: NATO's Response to the Prague Spring
- Journal of Cold War Studies
- The MIT Press
- Volume 1, Number 3, Fall 1999
- pp. 111-138
- Article
- Additional Information
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) kept close track of developments in Czechoslovakia throughout 1968, but the alliance did not pursue a coherent policy toward the uprising. A close examination of NATO actions from January 1968 until the invasion on 20-21 August helps explain why a coordinated approach never materialized. Certain structural features of the alliance and a host of domestic and external distractions precluded a joint response. NATO members worked individually rather than collectively to avert Soviet military action through quiet diplomacy, but these efforts made almost no difference.