UNREST AND COHESION IN THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE: NATO AND THE GERMAN QUESTION

Abstract

The current difficulties are seen as part of a traditional tension within NATO, not as result of the detente between USSR and the West. Two key factors explain the continuing unrest in the Alliance: (1) the high degree of institutionalization of the military pact in peacetime, and (2) the deep involvement of the Alliance with the unfinished business of World War II, divided Germany. These two elements also explain the cohesion of the Alliance. The author details the reasons for this paradox and shows why the Alliance has not outlived its usefulness. Included in the discussion are the indispensable role of NATO as a regional peace system, the complex political problems of such a system, and the confusion created by juxtaposing peace-oriented political management and war-oriented military posture when there is no acute conflict between USSR and the Alliance.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1966
Accession Number
AD0635972

Entities

People

  • Horst Mendershausen

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Cold War
  • European Communities
  • European Union
  • Foreign Policy
  • Foreign Relations
  • Germany
  • Governments
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Nato
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • Western Europe

Readers

  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Theoretical Analysis.