DOCSLIB.ORG

H-Diplo Article Review 922- Freeman on Gala

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
H-Diplo Article Review 922- Freeman on Gala H-Diplo H-Diplo Article Review 922- Freeman on Gala. “‘The Essential Weaknesses of the December 1979 “Agreement”’: The White House and the Implementing of the Dual-Track Decision.” Discussion published by George Fujii on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 H-Diplo Article Review 922 29 January 2020 Marilena Gala. “‘The Essential Weaknesses of the December 1979 “Agreement”’: The White House and the Implementing of the Dual-Track Decision.” Cold War History 19:1 (2019): 21-38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2018.1462339. https://hdiplo.org/to/AR922 Article Review Editors: Diane Labrosse and Seth Offenbach | Production Editor: George Fujii Review by Stephanie Freeman, Mississippi State University The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty met its demise in August 2019, but scholarship on the Euromissile Crisis continues to be vibrant and thought-provoking. The Crisis began in the mid-1970s, as the Soviets modernized and expanded their theater nuclear forces aimed at Western Europe.[1] On 12 December 1979, NATO foreign and defense ministers responded with the dual-track decision. The first track of the decision consisted of a proposed modernization of NATO’s long-range theater nuclear forces through the deployment of 108 U.S. Pershing II missiles and 464 U.S. ground- launched cruise missiles in Belgium, Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. A simultaneous offer of U.S.-Soviet arms control negotiations on both sides’ theater nuclear forces constituted the second track of the decision. Massive demonstrations against the proposed INF deployments took place across Western Europe during the early 1980s. In this article, Marilena Gala examines the Ronald Reagan administration’s implementation of the NATO dual-track decision between 1981 and 1983. Gala is particularly interested in NATO allies’ influence on Reagan’s INF policy. She credits West European officials with pressuring the staunch Cold Warrior Reagan to begin INF negotiations with the Soviets in November 1981. In these negotiations, U.S. officials proposed the zero option, which called for a ban on land-based INF missiles. Under this proposal, the United States would cancel its planned INF deployments in exchange for the Soviet Union’s agreement to dismantle its existing INF missiles and refrain from deploying any additional land-based INF in the future. Gala argues that the Reagan administration offered the zero option in an attempt to win West European support for its INF policy. It hoped that the zero option would curb the growing anti-nuclear sentiment in Western Europe, which threatened NATO governments’ support for INF modernization. According to Gala, West European influence on the Reagan administration’s INF policy continued Citation: George Fujii. H-Diplo Article Review 922- Freeman on Gala. “‘The Essential Weaknesses of the December 1979 “Agreement”’: The White House and the Implementing of the Dual-Track Decision.”. H-Diplo. 01-29-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/5761470/h-diplo-article-review-922-freeman-gala%C2%A0-%E2%80%9C%E2%80%9 8-essential-weaknesses Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Diplo after the start of INF negotiations. As U.S. and Soviet negotiators failed to make progress in the talks, West Europeans and their leaders came to believe that the Reagan administration was not genuinely trying to reach an agreement. By early 1983, the Reagan administration recognized that it needed to act in order to maintain West European support for its implementation of the dual-track decision. Reagan decided to heed the calls of allied governments to offer an interim proposal, which would reduce U.S. and Soviet land-based INF to equal levels above zero. The U.S. interim proposal helped maintain the support of NATO governments for both tracks of the dual-track decision. In the absence of an INF agreement, U.S. INF deployments began on schedule in late 1983. Gala marshals an impressive array of American, British, French, and German primary sources to make the case that West Europeans had an important influence on the Reagan administration’s pursuit of INF negotiations. This article is a model of international history, as Gala draws on material from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the National Archives of the United Kingdom, the Archives Nationales in France, and the Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland volumes. Gala’s effective use of primary sources is matched by her command of the secondary literature on the 1979 NATO dual-track decision and the Euromissile Crisis in the 1980s. By highlighting the influence of NATO allies on the Reagan administration’s INF arms control policy, Gala offers a broader interpretation of the role of West European governments in the Euromissile Crisis in the 1980s. Recent scholarship has examined the political debates over U.S. INF deployments that took place in Western Europe during the early 1980s.[2] Yet Gala’s work shows that Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Italy were not only debating whether to accept their allotted share of U.S. INF missiles under the dual-track decision, they were also actively and successfully pressuring the United States to pursue serious INF negotiations with the Soviet Union. The West Europeans, however, receive too much credit for Reagan’s adoption of the zero option in November 1981. Reagan was concerned that West European anti-nuclear sentiment would prompt West European governments to reject U.S. INF missiles, which he viewed as an important incentive to motivate the Soviets to negotiate arms reduction. Yet Reagan was also drawn to the zero option’s promise of eliminating an entire category of nuclear missiles. In a National Security Council meeting on 12 November 1981, Reagan expressed his hope that a zero agreement on INF would be the gateway to significant arms reduction agreements on other categories of nuclear weapons. Unlike his advisers, Reagan also argued that the Soviets might actually agree to the zero option.[3] Gala acknowledges that the zero option resonated with Reagan’s “deep conviction that the security and well-being of the United States and the rest of the world could not continue to rely on the danger of nuclear annihilation” (31). Yet the article does not discuss Reagan as an advocate of nuclear disarmament and thus does not fully consider the influence of his anti-nuclear views on his INF policy. Nevertheless, Gala’s article shines an important light on the influence of West Europeans on the Reagan administration’s pursuit of INF negotiations. This article will be of interest to scholars who study the history of U.S. foreign relations in the 1980s, NATO, and nuclear arms control. Citation: George Fujii. H-Diplo Article Review 922- Freeman on Gala. “‘The Essential Weaknesses of the December 1979 “Agreement”’: The White House and the Implementing of the Dual-Track Decision.”. H-Diplo. 01-29-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/5761470/h-diplo-article-review-922-freeman-gala%C2%A0-%E2%80%9C%E2%80%9 8-essential-weaknesses Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-Diplo Stephanie Freeman is Assistant Professor of History at Mississippi State University. She is currently working on a book manuscript that examines nuclear abolitionists’ role in ending the Cold War. She is the author of “The Making of an Accidental Crisis: The United States and the NATO Dual- Track Decision of 1979,” Diplomacy & Statecraft 25:2 (June 2014): 331-355. Notes [1] In 1981, the Reagan administration began referring to theater nuclear forces as intermediate- range nuclear forces (INF). [2] See, for example, Giles Scott-Smith, “The Netherlands between East and West: Dutch Politics, Dual Track, and Cruise Missiles,” in Leopoldo Nuti, Frédéric Bozo, Marie-Pierre Rey, and Bernd Rother, eds., The Euromissile Crisis and the End of the Cold War (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2015), 251-268; Leopoldo Nuti, “The Nuclear Debate in Italian Politics in the Late 1970s and the Early 1980s,” inThe Euromissile Crisis and the End of the Cold War, 231-250; Frédéric Bozo, “France, the Euromissiles, and the End of the Cold War,” inThe Euromissile Crisis and the End of the Cold War, 196-212. [3] Minutes of National Security Council Meeting, 12 November 1981, p. 4, 7, folder “NSC 00025 12 Nov 1981 [Theater Nuclear Forces, NATO, Strategic Forces],” Box 3, Executive Secretariat, NSC: Meeting Files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Citation: George Fujii. H-Diplo Article Review 922- Freeman on Gala. “‘The Essential Weaknesses of the December 1979 “Agreement”’: The White House and the Implementing of the Dual-Track Decision.”. H-Diplo. 01-29-2020. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/5761470/h-diplo-article-review-922-freeman-gala%C2%A0-%E2%80%9C%E2%80%9 8-essential-weaknesses Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 2018 Sartorius Christopher Ma
    UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE WARNING INTELLIGENCE IN NUCLEAR CRISIS MANAGEMENT: AVOIDING CATASTROPHIC MISCALCULATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By CHRISTOPHER M. SARTORIUS Norman, OK 2018 WARNING INTELLIGENCE IN NUCLEAR CRISIS MANAGMENT: AVOIDING CATASTROPHIC MISCALCULATION A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE BY ___________________________ Dr. Ronald K. Gaddie, Chair ___________________________ Dr. Colin M. Barry ___________________________ Dr. Deven E. Carlson ___________________________ Dr. Jorge L. Mendoza ___________________________ Dr. Shad B. Satterthwaite © Copyright by CHRISTOPHER M. SARTORIUS 2018 All Rights Reserved. This dissertation is dedicated to my family and all intelligence professionals, military and civilian, past and present, who have dedicated their lives to protecting our great nation and our allies. Acknowledgements Working on this doctoral dissertation has been both a joy and a challenge. This work would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of countless individuals. At the most personal level, I would like to thank my wife, Fulvia, for her support over the past three years of this doctoral program and for her care and love over the past 25 years. I wish to thank my son, Konrad, for providing inspiration, much needed breaks in my work routine, and for sharing lunch together at the OU cafeteria followed by our fun table tennis matches. I also would like to thank my parents, Tim and Wanda Sartorius, for instilling in me the value of a great education. I would also like to thank Dr. Shad Satterthwaite, always friendly, open, and upbeat for enthusiastically encouraging me to pursue a doctoral degree at OU and Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Antinuclear Politics, Atomic Culture, and Reagan Era Foreign Policy
    Selling the Second Cold War: Antinuclear Cultural Activism and Reagan Era Foreign Policy A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy William M. Knoblauch March 2012 © 2012 William M. Knoblauch. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Selling the Second Cold War: Antinuclear Cultural Activism and Reagan Era Foreign Policy by WILLIAM M. KNOBLAUCH has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by __________________________________ Chester J. Pach Associate Professor of History __________________________________ Howard Dewald Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT KNOBLAUCH, WILLIAM M., Ph.D., March 2012, History Selling the Second Cold War: Antinuclear Cultural Activism and Reagan Era Foreign Policy Director of Dissertation: Chester J. Pach This dissertation examines how 1980s antinuclear activists utilized popular culture to criticize the Reagan administration’s arms buildup. The 1970s and the era of détente marked a decade-long nadir for American antinuclear activism. Ronald Reagan’s rise to the presidency in 1981 helped to usher in the “Second Cold War,” a period of reignited Cold War animosities that rekindled atomic anxiety. As the arms race escalated, antinuclear activism surged. Alongside grassroots movements, such as the nuclear freeze campaign, a unique group of antinuclear activists—including publishers, authors, directors, musicians, scientists, and celebrities—challenged Reagan’s military buildup in American mass media and popular culture. These activists included Fate of the Earth author Jonathan Schell, Day After director Nicholas Meyer, and “nuclear winter” scientific-spokesperson Carl Sagan.
    [Show full text]
  • Managing Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East
    04-3869-5 CH04 10/28/08 9:30 AM Page 93 BRUCE RIEDEL GARY SAMORE 4 Managing Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East CURRENT U.S. EFFORTS to stop Iran’s nuclear program have failed. For- tunately, however, because of technical limits, Iran appears to be two to three years away from building an enrichment facility capable of pro- ducing sufficient weapons-grade uranium quickly enough to support a credible nuclear weapons option. As a consequence, the incoming U.S. administration will likely have some breathing space to develop a new diplomatic approach to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. Part of this new approach should involve direct and uncon- ditional talks between the United States and Iran on a range of bilateral issues, as well as formal nuclear negotiations between Iran and the EU-3 plus 3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, plus China, Russia, and the United States). To make these negotiations effective, the new administration should seek agreement among the EU-3 plus 3 to support stronger political and economic sanctions if Iran rejects an offer to resolve the nuclear issue and improve bilateral relations with the United States. Faced with more attractive inducements and the prospect of more serious sanctions, the Iranian regime might be persuaded to limit its nuclear activities below the threshold of a nuclear breakout capability. If this new diplomatic effort fails to stop Iran from achieving comple- tion of a nuclear breakout capability (that is, the ability to produce sig- 93 04-3869-5 CH04 10/28/08 9:30 AM Page 94 94 BRUCE RIEDEL and GARY SAMORE nificant amounts of weapons-grade uranium), the United States will face a difficult choice: It could accept Iran as a nuclear-capable state with a breakout option and try to build firebreaks to prevent Iran from actually producing such material (and building nuclear weapons).
    [Show full text]
  • Friend Or Ally? a Question for New Zealand
    .......... , ---~ MeN AIR PAPERS NUMBER T\\ ELVE FRIEND OR ALLY? A QUESTION FOR NEW ZEALAND By EWAN JAMIESON THE INSTI FUTE FOR NATIONAL SI'R-~TEGIC STUDIES ! I :. ' 71. " " :~..? ~i ~ '" ,.Y:: ;,i:,.i:".. :..,-~.~......... ,,i-:i:~: .~,.:iI- " yT.. -.~ .. ' , " : , , ~'~." ~ ,?/ .... ',~.'.'.~ ..~'. ~. ~ ,. " ~:S~(::!?- ~,i~ '. ? ~ .5" .~.: -~:!~ ~:,:i.. :.~ ".: :~" ;: ~:~"~',~ ~" '" i .'.i::.. , i ::: .',~ :: .... ,- " . ".:' i:!i"~;~ :~;:'! .,"L': ;..~'~ ',.,~'i:..~,~'"~,~: ;":,:.;;, ','" ;.: i',: ''~ .~,,- ~.:.~i ~ . '~'">.'.. :: "" ,-'. ~:.." ;';, :.~';';-;~.,.";'."" .7 ,'~'!~':"~ '?'""" "~ ': " '.-."i.:2: i!;,'i ,~.~,~I~out ;popular: ~fo.rmatwn~ .o~~'t,he~,,:. "~.. " ,m/e..a~ tg:,the~6w.erw!~chi~no.wtetl~e.~gi..~e~ ;~i:~.::! ~ :: :~...i.. 5~', '+~ :: ..., .,. "'" .... " ",'.. : ~'. ,;. ". ~.~.~'.:~.'-? "-'< :! :.'~ : :,. '~ ', ;'~ : :~;.':':/.:- "i ; - :~:~!II::::,:IL:.~JmaiegMad}~)~:ib;:, ,?T,-. B~;'...-::', .:., ,.:~ .~ 'z • ,. :~.'..." , ,~,:, "~, v : ", :, -:.-'": ., ,5 ~..:. :~i,~' ',: ""... - )" . ,;'~'.i "/:~'-!"'-.i' z ~ ".. "', " 51"c, ' ~. ;'~.'.i:.-. ::,,;~:',... ~. " • " ' '. ' ".' ,This :iis .aipul~ ~'i~gtin~e ..fdi;:Na~i~real..Sfi'~te~ie.'Studi'~ ~It ;is, :not.i! -, - .... +~l~ase,~ad.~ p,g, ,,.- .~, . • ,,. .... .;. ...~,. ...... ,._ ,,. .~ .... ~;-, :'-. ,,~7 ~ ' .~.: .... .,~,~.:U7 ,L,: :.~: .! ~ :..!:.i.i.:~i :. : ':'::: : ',,-..-'i? -~ .i~ .;,.~.,;: ~v~i- ;. ~, ~;. ' ~ ,::~%~.:~.. : ..., .... .... -, ........ ....... 1'-.~ ~:-~...%, ;, .i-,i; .:.~,:- . eommenaati6'r~:~xpregseff:or ;ii~iplie'd.:;~ifl~in.:iat~ -::
    [Show full text]
  • Conyentlonal Forces and Arms Limitation in Europe
    UNIDIR/88/22/Rev2 UNIDIR United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research Geneva — ^ UNITED NATIONS < BIPASXIIENI f o r DISABUftMSNI AJVAULS befbsbhce L in m ^ f Conyentlonal forces and arms limitation in Europe Report by the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) prepared under the direction of Pierre Lellouche and Jirome Paolini UNITED NATIONS New York, 1989 NOTE The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication dp not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ♦ * * The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Secretariat. UNIDIR/88/22/Rev.2 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION Sales No. GV.E.89.0.6 ISBN 92-9045-036-3 02400P i i i ^ ^ UNITED HATKHIS OlPARiaiENI FOR DISAMMMSNI AFFAIB8 ^ BEBKEUCE LUSAiOC^ PREFACE ^ ...... In paragraphs 81 and 82 of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General As- sembly, the most comprehensive consensus statement on disarmament formulated to date by the international community , it was considered that "Together with negotiations on nuclear disarma- ment measures, the limitation and gradual reduction of armed fcnrces and conventional weapons should be resolutely pursued within the framework of progress towards general and complete disar- mament". States with larger military arsenals were especially urged to pursue such endeavours and Europe was specifically singled out as a priority region of the globe where agreement on mutual reductions and limitations of military potential could greatly contribute to the enhancement of international peace and security.
    [Show full text]
  • French Vs. Australian Nuclear Policies: Convergences, Divergences and Avenues for Cooperation
    French vs. Australian nuclear policies: convergences, divergences and avenues for cooperation Recherches & Documents N°19/2020 Eloise N. Watson December 2020 www.frstrategie.org French vs. Australian nuclear policies: convergences, divergences and avenues for cooperation SUMMARY FRENCH VS. AUSTRALIAN NUCLEAR POLICIES: CONVERGENCES, DIVERGENCES AND AVENUES FOR COOPERATION .......................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 1. STANCE ON NUCLEAR DETERRENCE .......................................................................................... 2 1.1. The Australian position ........................................................................................2 1.1.1. Nuclear weapons acquisition: a fleeting flirtation ................................................2 1.1.2. Nuclear option shelved; ‘extended nuclear deterrence’ prioritised ......................3 1.1.3. Continued reinforcement of extended nuclear deterrence in the post-Cold War era .....................................................................................................................4 1.2. The French position .............................................................................................4 1.2.1. The original strategic rationale: guarantee security, diplomatic standing and independence ....................................................................................................4
    [Show full text]
  • International Media and U.S. Foreign Policy by Kevin J, Mcnamara
    Review Essays International Media and U.S. Foreign Policy by Kevin J, McNamara Lights, Camera, War Is Media Technology Driving Internutional Politics? By Johanna Neuman. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. 327 pp. $23.95.) Negotiating in the Public Eye: Y&eimpact of the Ptes on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Negotiations. By Marc A. Genest. (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995. 189 pp. $32.50.) ~n~~o~l News and Fon?z&zCoals. By Stephen Hess. (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, l!?%. 209 pp. $26.95.) i%e Cuptiw Press:Fomi@ Policy Crisesand the First Amendment. By Ted Galen Carpenter. (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 1995.315 pp. $14.95,paper.) News media, especially television, appear to be assuming an ever larger role in vital affairs of state. For example, the first major ~te~atio~l crisis following the cold war saw endless jostling by Washington and Baghdad to score propaganda points during the months leading up to Operation Desert Storm, which led Newsuxek to declare that “TV has once again become the water in which world events swim.“l CNN’s live coverage of the Persian Gulf War led some diplomats to declare that the lifeblood of the ~plomatic trade--the cable traf%c between embassies and foreign ministries-was mostly dead. “It’s useless for us to report what is happening,” one unidentified European diplomat remarked, “when everyone in our capital sees it all on television. By the time you’ve coded your cable, they know as much as you do.r’2 In addition, some of the bloodiest battles that heralded the collapse of communism during the 198‘+1991 period were fought over television facilities.
    [Show full text]
  • NATO's Role in Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Arms Control
    NATO’s Role in Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Arms Control: A (Critical) History © 2021 IAI by Leopoldo Nuti ISSN 2280-6164 ABSTRACT This paper looks at the interaction between the Atlantic Alliance and the main arms-control negotiations of the nuclear age. The first part is dedicated to the role the Alliance played in the arms-control and non-proliferation process that shaped the global nuclear order during the Cold War. The second part of the paper discusses the Alliance’s adaptation to the post-Cold War period. In the new security environment that has emerged after the end of the bipolar confrontation, NATO has faced an increasing number of challenges in its efforts to reconcile its arms-control policy with its commitment to maintain a credible deterrence posture. NATO | Nuclear weapons | Arms control | Non-proliferation | Transatlantic keywords relations DOCUMENTI IAI 21 | 03 - JANUARY 2021 DOCUMENTI IAI 21 | 03 - JANUARY NATO’s Role in Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Arms Control: A (Critical) History NATO’s Role in Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Arms Control: A (Critical) History by Leopoldo Nuti* © 2021 IAI Introduction Can a military alliance such as NATO, which has never played a formal part either in the negotiation or in the implementation of any arms-control agreements, plausibly claim to have any role in the field of nuclear arms control and non- proliferation? And if it did, what would it be? What was the overall contribution of ISSN 2280-6164 the Alliance to the stability of the global nuclear order, during and after the Cold War? The purpose of this paper is to try and provide an answer to these questions by discussing the interaction between the Atlantic Alliance and the main arms- control negotiations of the nuclear age.1 As the paper will hopefully make clear, NATO has indeed been involved in shaping many arms-control decisions – albeit with a rather mixed record, given the limited weight it could have on these issues.
    [Show full text]
  • Paper 2 Superpower Relations and the Cold War C1941-‐91
    Year 11 Revision Period Study – Paper 2 Superpower Relations and the Cold War c1941-91 Revision Programme – Paper 2 Superpower Rivalry 1941-91 Paper 2 is one hour and forty five minutes long. It has two distinct sections ; Section A – Period Study - Superpower Rivalry 1941-91 ( 50 minutes) Section B – British Depth Study – Elizabethan England 1588-1601 (55 minutes) Section A – Three Questions. All assess AO1 and AO2. All rely on factual knowledge and understanding. Question 1- Explain two consequences of …. ( 8 marks) Allow 10 minutes for this answer. Write about two consequences – you only need to write half a page so be brief. Focus should only be on the effect of an event – good discourse markers to use would be as a result of; as a consequence; the effect was; so Question 2 Write a narrative account analysing… ( 8 marks) Allow 15 minutes. This answer expects a narrative explaining how events lead to an outcome. You are given two information prompts but are expected to add to this to gain the best marks. The key is to write an organised answer, putting events into the right order and most importantly showing how each event links to the next. There should be a clear beginning, middle and end to this response Question 3 Explain two of the following… the importance of xxx for …. ( 16 marks) Allow 25 minutes. You need to choose TWO from the three listed. You must explain the impact of an event – thinking what did this event lead to? What difference did this event make ? KEY TIP : Throughout revision focus on what events are; the effect they have on each other and the overall Cold War tensions.
    [Show full text]
  • Security Without War a Post-Cold War Foreign Policy
    SECURITY WITHOUT WAR A POST-COLD WAR FOREIGN POLICY Michael H. Shuman and Hal Harvey With a Foreward by Senator Paul Simon Westview Press Boulder • San Francisco • Oxford You will say at once that although the abolition of war has been the dream of man for centuries, every proposition to that end has been promptly discarded as impossible and fantastic. Every cynic, every pessimist, every adventurer, every swashbuckler in the world has always disclaimed its feasibility....But now the tremendous and present evolution of nuclear and other potentials of destruction has suddenly taken the problem away from its primary consideration as a moral and spiritual question and brought it abreast of scientific realism. It is no longer an ethical equation to be pondered solely by learned philosophers and ecclesiastics but a hard core one for the decision of the masses whose survival is the issue. – General Douglas MacArthur, 1955 CONTENTS Foreward, Senator Paul Simon Acknowledgments Introduction (n/a) Cold War Policies in a Post-Cold-War World Toward a New View of Security Organization of the Book Part I. Redefining Security 1. New Security Threats Military Threats Political Threats Economic Threats Environmental Threats A Comprehensive Policy 2. Limits to Force The Folly of U.S. Intervention The Recent Record for Other Users of Force Force as a Last Resort 3. Dangers of Arms Racing The Controlled Arms Race The War Risks of the Controlled Arms Race Political Insecurity Economic Security Environmental Security Security Without Arms Races Part II. Preventing and Resolving Conflicts 4. Political Roots of Conflict Strong Democracy and Interstate Peace Strong Democracy and Intrastate Peace Promoting Strong Democracy Abroad Promoting Strong Democracy at Home Perpetual Peace 5.
    [Show full text]
  • The Danger of the Zero Option; Instead, Reduce INF Forces to 100 Warheads on Each Side
    Page 1 1 of 2 DOCUMENTS The Washington Post March 31, 1987, Tuesday, Final Edition The Danger of the Zero Option; Instead, reduce INF forces to 100 warheads on each side. BYLINE: John Deutch, Brent Scowcroft, R. James Woolsey SECTION: EDITORIAL; PAGE A21 LENGTH: 1072 words The administration appears to be moving rapidly to respond positively to Mikhail Gorbachev's offer to separate negotiations on intermediate nuclear forces from those on strategic offensive and defensive weapons. This makes tactical sense, to take advantage of Gorbachev's apparent desire -- or need -- to show movement in arms control. It may also be in the administration's interest to help demonstrate that the president's recent political wounds have not impaired his ability to function. But what of the substance of the INF proposal itself? While the notion of reducing to zero intermediate-range weapons in Europe on both sides, with each allowed 100 warheads respectively in Soviet Asia and the United States, originally was a U.S. idea, it nonetheless has a number of troubling aspects. The prospect of eliminating an entire class of nuclear weapons in Europe is superficially attractive, but more serious examination of its implications reveals a very different picture. The proposal is that the United States dismantle 572 warheads on Pershing II and cruise missiles and the Soviets dismantle 270 SS-20 missiles carrying 810 warheads currently based so as to be able to strike European targets. Even assuming that the administration pursues successfully its efforts to ensure adequate verification, there will remain at least three areas where the proposal fails to serve U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • George Shultz, Nuclear Statecraft and the Vision for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons1 Stephan Kieninger
    George Shultz, Nuclear Statecraft and the Vision for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons1 Stephan Kieninger Summary As Secretary of State, George Shultz worked hard to help protect Ronald Reagan’s and Mikhail Gorbachev’s shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. This article looks into Shultz’s contribution to Reagan’s groundbreaking arms control diplomacy and its pivotal role for the peaceful end of the Cold War highlighting the contemporary significance of Reagan’s and Shultz’s vision at a time when the global challenge is to build from scratch a new arms control architecture for the 21th century, something that will need strength, patient statecraft and the long-term management of adversarial relations with Russia and China. The article sheds new light on the complexities of Ronald Reagan’s approach: On the one hand, Reagan wanted America’s victory in the battle with the Soviet Union. At the same time, he wanted to abolish nuclear weapons, and reducing nuclear weapons required patient statecraft and the relaunch of U.S.-Soviet cooperation. Ronald Reagan and George Shultz managed to weave these aims together combining strength and diplomacy in new ways in an effort to advance freedom and promote democracy. About the Author Stephan Kieninger is an independent historian and the author of two books on the history of détente and Euro-Atlantic security: The Diplomacy of Détente. Cooperative Security Policies from Helmut Schmidt to George Shultz (2018) and Dynamic Détente. The United States and Europe, 1964– 1975 (2016). He received his PhD from Mannheim University. Formerly, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins SAIS, a fellow at the Berlin Center for Cold War Studies, and a senior researcher at the Federal German Archives.
    [Show full text]