NATO Comprehensive approach: hvordan legger NATO forholdene til rette for Comprehensive Approach, og hvilke utfordringer møter NATO?

NATO Comprehensive Approach (CA) has been visible on the NATO agenda since it was approved at the Riga summit in 2006. The experience from International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been one of the main drivers for NATO to develop CA. CA is described as the way to approach complex conflicts, covering the whole spectrum of political, military, economical, social, infrastructure and information (also known as PMESII) activities. NATO is a predominantly military organisation, and in an operational theatre it can expect to take the lead on military matters while other organisations deal with the other according to their expertise. This thesis examines how NATO prepares for CA on the political/strategic level and on the operational level, and also tries to identify some of the challenges NATO has in this context. The study was written in the spring of 2011 as a part of the Master Programme at the Norwegian Defence Staff College. This thesis concludes that NATO on the political/strategic and on the operational level has made good progress in implementing CA, and that this is visible in what NATO does. But it also states that NATO, as a predominantly military organization, has limitations in how far the organization can develop CA. NATO CA requires that its member-nations give the organization the right mandate. It also requires that other international organisations are willing to develop cooperation with NAT