Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence in Europe

Abstract

I The famous ”gang of four’’ article in Foreign Affairs and voices in the American antinuclear movement have forcefully opened an important strategic debate by recommending that NATO adopt a ”no first use” (NFU) policy for nuclear weapons in Europe.’ Advocates of NFU maintain that NATO should declare that it will not initiate the use of nuclear weapons. Specifically, if NATO’s conventional forces fail to contain a Warsaw Pact offensive, NATO should accept defeat rather than turn to nuclear weapons. As NFU advocates recognize, an NFU declaration would also require changes in NATO’s force posture to give it practical meaning and effect. Some advocates of NFU would create a limited nuclear free zone in Central Europe, although a meaningful NFU policy would seem to require larger changes, probably including the removal of nuclear weapons from continental Europe. Proponents of NFU also recognize that to compensate for the removal of the threat of nuclear escalation, NATO must improve markedly its conventional defenses before an NFU policy can be adopted.2 Thus, NFU incorporates both doctrinal and force posture adjustments.

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