NATO and the global colour line

This article explores the role of NATO in the upkeep of what W. E. B. Du Bois termed the global ‘colour line’—namely a racialized division of the world. Formally, the organization views itself as a defensive alliance, focused on safeguarding the freedom and security of its member states. However, building on works that reveal the racialized founding and workings of international relations, I argue that this seemingly defensive aspiration is premised on an antagonistic, racialized conception of the global order that is tantamount to what Du Bois conceived as the ‘colour line’. For one thing, it is premised on the metropolitan notion that values such as freedom, security, stability, human rights, democracy and rule of law are endogenous to transatlantic alliance and, by extension, the global North. Furthermore, by positioning itself as a line of defence against threats to these values also presumes that such ‘good values’ are lacking beyond the geographical limits of this alliance. Empirically, this article will focus on NATO's policy engagement in the Middle East and its strategic concerns with ‘threats’ of terrorism, conflict, fragility and instability emanating from the region that undermine the freedom and security of the NATO states.