Political Geography Now: NATO

Sunday, April 9, 2023

Map: Finland Joins NATO

Map of NATO allies in 2023, with all members color-coded in dark blue including the newest country to join, Finland. Also labels Sweden which hoped to join at the same time as Finland, and Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine led to Finland and Sweden choosing to join. The map is projected to appear as if the viewer is looking at a globe, with the North Atlantic Ocean in the center. The left side is dominated by large NATO members the US and Canada, while on the right side the smaller continent of Europe is mostly made up of blue NATO member countries, with a few noticeable gaps. Finland is located at the far upper-right corner, stretched out north-to-south adjacent to the border of non-member Russia, while just to its left, Sweden forms the largest gap in European NATO, surrounded by member countries Finland, Norway, and (across a narrow strip of sea) Denmark, Germany, Poland, and the Baltic countries (colorblind accessible).

Graphic modified by Evan Centanni from this map by Wikimedia user Addicted04 (CC BY-SA).

New NATO Ally: Finland

The northern European country of Finland has been admitted as a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Its membership officially went into effect on Tuesday, April 4 after the final paperwork and exchange of documents was completed. Finland is the 31st country to join NATO.

Last week major news outlets incorrectly reported or implied that Finland wouldn't become a NATO member until July, when the organization hopes to welcome both Finland and Sweden to its annual meeting of the member countries' leaders. (Sweden has also applied to join, but its membership is currently being blocked - see below for details.)

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Monday, April 6, 2020

Map: North Macedonia Joins NATO

Map of NATO allies in 2020, with all members including the newest country to join, North Macedonia (colorblind accessible).

Graphic modified by Evan Centanni from this map by Wikimedia user Addicted04 (CC BY-SA).

New NATO Ally: North Macedonia

Southeastern Europe's Republic of North Macedonia has been admitted as a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Its membership officially went into effect on Friday, March 27, and a welcoming ceremony was held at the organization's headquarters the next Monday. North Macedonia is the 30th country to join NATO.

Membership had been promised to the country in exchange for striking a compromise in its dispute with NATO member Greece, who argued that the neighboring country was falsely claiming ownership of Greek history. Part of the deal, finalized in February 2019, was changing the country's name from "Republic of Macedonia" to "Republic of North Macedonia" - softening the implication that it's the heir to the ancient kingdom of Macedonia, which was mostly located in what's now Greece.

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