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The NATO Alliance

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The Political Economy of the Arms Race

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Abstract

In 1949 the bilateral arms race between the USA and USSR was internationalised when the USA agreed with Canada, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway and Portugal, that an armed attack on one or more of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. Subsequently Greece, Turkey and West Germany have joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and France withdrawn. In 1955 the Eastern bloc followed suit, with the creation of the Warsaw Pact. Despite the different, enduring problems which have beset the two alliances since their formation, both, in contrast to most alliances which historically tend to disintegrate once the initial conflicts which gave rise to their creation have disappeared,1 have remained an instrumental part of the arms race. Systemic conflict between capitalism and socialism and great power hostility between the USA and the USSR have transcended the historical reluctance of countries to tie themselves to a semipermanent alliance, in the case of the USA, to that very part of the world against which Washington and subsequent leaders have railed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Politics, The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK

    R. T. Maddock (Senior Lecturer)

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© 1990 R. T. Maddock

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Maddock, R.T. (1990). The NATO Alliance. In: The Political Economy of the Arms Race. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09842-2_4

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