Abstract
NATO is an alliance of sovereign nations. It was formed, and it is sustained today, as the basis for defending its member states against perceived threats to their security, independence and territorial integrity. Different political interpretations of NATO’s actual role tend to depend upon the perspective of the interpreter. Member governments see it as a defensive alliance for securing peace. The Warsaw Treaty nations see NATO as a threat, part of a hostile encirclement of the socialist commonwealth, and as a bastion of American imperialism.
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Notes
The basic reference book on NATO, which includes summaries of major North Atlantic Council decisions, is The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation: Facts and Figures (Brussels: NATO Information Service, 1984).
A useful recent study of the Nuclear Planning Group is by P. Buteux, Nuclear Consultation in NATO: 1965–1980 (Cambridge University Press: 1983).
For a discussion of this point, see D. Schwartz, NA TO’s Nuclear Dilemmas (Brookings: 1983) pp. 244–5.
Robin Beard, Assistant Secretary-General for Defence Support, interviewed in Aviation Week and Space Technology (21 May 1984).
See J. Eberle ‘Defence Organisation in the Future’ ch. 6 of L. Martin (ed.) The Management of Defence (London: Macmillan, 1976).
For which, see D. Charles ‘Who Controls NATO’s Nuclear Weapons?’, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Apr. 1985) esp. p. 48.
For full details on European NATO nuclear-capable systems see, ‘Background Materials on Tactical Nuclear Weapons Primarily in the European Context’ in SIPRI’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons: European Perspectives (London: Taylor & Francis, 1978)
The Military Balance 1984–1985 (London: IISS, 1985) pp. 131–2 and
P. Bracken The Command and Control of Nuclear Forces (Yale University Press, 1983) ch. 5.
For a remarkably penetrating analysis of NATO nuclear doctrine see P. Bracken, op. cit., ch. 5, esp. pp. 164–78.
See T. Cochran et al, Nuclear Weapons Databook: vol 1–US Nuclear Forces and Capabilities (Ballinger, 1983) p. 94.
See D. Ball ‘Strategic Forces: How Would They Be Used?’ International Security (Winter 1982–83) esp. p. 47
on the relationship between war plans and nuclear weapons procurement see J. Richelson, ‘The Reagan Strategic Modernisation Programme’, Journal of Strategic Studies (June 1983).
For a revealing and authoritative presentation of NATO war-plans see D. Ball, Targeting for Strategic Deterrence (IISS: 1983), pp. 19–21.
P. Bracken, op. cit., p. 135.
The literature on the decision is extensive. The following account relies particularly on R. Garthoff, ‘The NATO Decision on Theatre Nuclear Forces’, Political Science Quarterly (Summer 1983) pp. 198–212
relevant chapter in R. Betts (ed.) Cruise Missiles: Strategy, Technology, Politics (Brookings Institution, 1981)
D. Schwartz, op. cit.
P. Buteux, op. cit.
The phrase is from R. Garthoff, op. cit., p. 204.
From D. Schwartz, op. cit., p. 243.
C. Coker, Future of the Atlantic Alliance (Royal United Services Institute. 1984) p. 47.
See in particular F. Kaplan ‘Warring Over New Missiles for NATO’, New York Times Magazine, (9 Dec. 1979) and
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© 1986 Oxford Research Group
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Beyer, J. et al. (1986). North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. In: McLean, S. (eds) How Nuclear Weapons Decisions are Made. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18081-3_6
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