Over the course of more than a dozen years at the top of Dutch politics, Mark Rutte got to know a thing or two about finding consensus among fractious coalition partners. Now he will bring the experience of leading four Dutch multiparty governments to the international stage as NATO's new secretary general.

On Wednesday, NATO ambassadors appointed the outgoing Dutch prime minister as the alliance's next secretary general, its top civilian post. Rutte is scheduled to head the world's biggest military organization from October.