Cooperation and Competition: The Western European Contribution to Alliance Security Policies

Abstract

These are times of high moment within the Alliance. The Zero-Zero proposals on intermediate nuclear forces and questions related to short-range systems; possible deep cuts in strategic systems; these and other issues call for clear thinking about the essential elements of Alliance security policies into the next century and beyond. The focus on the dangers of nuclear war is not being matched, at least in terms of a general awareness in the West, by a recognition of weaknesses in Alliance conventional and chemical capabilities — not least because they call into being some very difficult political problems, of which the one of resource allocation is not the least important.