Introduction

Abstract

This book deals with the security of the European continent. It particularly concerns itself with problems in European security in the new environment that follows the abolition of intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF). These missiles, capable of delivering nuclear warheads with ranges between 500 and 3000 kilometers, have been central to security thinking for more than a decade. This book is therefore almost entirely devoted to what have come to be known as ‘conventional’ weapons. There is a problem of nomenclature that runs throughout the study. Some would call this an exercise in the study of ‘arms control’, others in ‘strategic theory’. Our use of the anodyne ‘security policy’ is an attempt to get around the labelling problem. Were it not too verbose (and too presumptuous), we would describe the essay as a study of ‘war avoidance and war limitation.’ We intend to investigate ways in which European powers, operating either in conjunction with or even in concert against the superpowers, can diminish the chance of a war in Europe. We examine how a major arms reduction treaty has raised new, and increased the urgency of old, questions about such an aim.