Home › Features › Essays › Europe's Security Dilemmas

Europe's Security Dilemmas

Christoph Bertram
Summer 1987
Summary: 

NATO is facing new challenges; there is confusion and uncertainty about its security requirements in the light of Gorbachev's nuclear disarmament proposals, and a need for a more concentrated effort to meet these challenges, which cannot be left to the USA alone. A common strategy for deterrence is a pre-requisite for a common strategy for arms reductions.

Christoph Bertram is the Diplomatic Correspondent of the West German weekly Die Zeit. From 1974 to 1982 he was the Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

We're sorry, but Foreign Affairs does not have the copyright to display this article online.

Related

Essay, Fall 1987
Military Security in Europe
Jonathan Dean

In the light of the anticipated INF agreement the question is whether confrontation is entering a genuine phase of de-escalation or merely a tactical one. Most NATO commanders agree that a surprise attack by conventional Soviet forces is improbable. NATO should develop a plan for exploiting the potential for reductions in conventional weapons and make a serious effort to achieve an agreement. There may be room for trade-offs in economic credits and managerial skills for large-scale Soviet force reductions.

Read
Essay, Spring 1988
Defending Post-INF Europe
Jeffrey Record and David B. Rivkin, Jr.

Defends the traditional, pessimistic evaluation of NATO's conventional capabilities against revisionists, and argues that "NATO is highly unlikely to make the conventional force improvements seemingly dictated by the INF treaty". Predicts a Soviet arms control offensive upon "a vulnerable and divided NATO... the alliance has painted itself into a corner, and the paint will not dry". Despite all this, NATO will continue to prevent war in Europe.

Read
Essay, Jan/Feb 2003
Bridging the Atlantic Divide
Philip H. Gordon

In recent months, many observers have concluded that the United States and Europe are on divergent paths and that the transatlantic alliance is crumbling. In spite of some real differences, however, American and European attitudes remain remarkably similar on most key issues. Basing policy on the false assumption of transatlantic divorce would only make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Read
Cover image

In the Magazine

March/April 2010, 2, 89
Essay
After Iran Gets the Bomb
James M. Lindsay and Ray Takeyh

Despite international pressure, Iran appears to be continuing its march toward getting a nuclear bomb. But Washington can contain and mitigate the consequences of Tehran's nuclear defiance, keeping an abhorrent outcome from becoming a catastrophic one.
Read