Meeting Europe's 21st Century Security Challenges: Reimagining Conventional Arms Control
Abstract
For much of the past 30 years, conventional arms control (CAC) has played a historic role in ensuring the security of Europe. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) stabilized the continent for nearly two decades after it was signed in 1990 by establishing ceilings on categories of weapons that were believed to facilitate large-scale surprise attacks and creating procedures for inspection and notification, thus shaping military behavior in Europe from the final years of bipolar confrontation through the early post Cold War period. In recent years, however, the European CAC regime has largely collapsed due to a variety of related political disputes. Perhaps more importantly, the fundamental rationale for the treaty addressing destabilizing quantities of conventional arms on the continent might no longer be relevant. Given military-technological developments since the original treaty was negotiated, smaller quantities of equipment could provide capabilities that are just as destabilizing, if not more so, as those posed by larger quantities in the past. A new RAND Corporation study has explored novel approaches to CAC to address the challenges posed by the current security environment. The study sought to reconceive a CAC framework that is relevant to recent military-technological developments and current regional security challenges. It uncovered a variety of military factors that foster instability, potential conflict, and escalation in Europe today, and examined measures that might address those drivers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1097315
Entities
People
- Alice Lynch
- Dara Massicot
- Giacomo P. Paoli
- John J. Drennan
- Samuel Charap
Organizations
- RAND Corporation