Confidence-Building Measures in Europe: The Military Aspects

Abstract

The idea and terminology of Confidence-Building Measures [CBM] emerged from the Helsinki Final Act, which set in train a rather new set of thoughts about the ways in which states and alliances might be reassured that certain legitimate military activities undertaken by potential adversaries are not intended as threatening. Initially the requirements for notification of manoeuvres were not seen as particularly restrictive on the military activities of the signatories. In a sense the Final Act was an act of faith and a declaration of intentions to proceed in particular directions. Indeed these CBM are explicitly voluntary, although there was a political commitment by the signatories of the Final Act to notify manoeuvres involving over 25,000 ground troops. The other CBM are concerned with the exchange of observers at manoeuvres, notification of manoeuvres below the threshold figure of 25,000, notification of military movements and exchange of military visits. The spirit of CBM was therefore articulated in a way which moved ahead of statutory requirements under the Final Act, and it has been quite noticeable that there has been a certain unevenness in the way CBM provisions have been applied. All seem to have abided by the letter of the law, but the West has gone beyond this — in terms of notification and invitations to observers — while the Warsaw Pact states have not.