The Out-of-Area Debate: The Atlantic Alliance and Challenges Beyond Europe,
Abstract
Recent events demonstrate that either Western security nor the politics of the Atlantic Alliance can be insulated from strategic developments beyond Europe. The U.S. -European agenda is top-heavy with so-called out-of-area issues; in the last few years, developments in the Middle Ease and Southwest Asia (Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq war), Africa (Chad, Namibia), and the Western Hemisphere (Grenada, Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Falkland Islands) have figured prominently in the life of the Atlantic Alliance. Indeed, since the deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe appears to have passed its critical phase, out-of-area problems may pose the greatest threat to Alliance cohesion. Both the direct capacity of the individual allied nations to advance or hinder one another's foreign policy goals around the world and the indirect spillover effect that events beyond Europe can have on core NATO defense interests make the effective management of Alliance politics outside the European theater of critical import today.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA160498
Entities
People
- E. D. Sherwood
Organizations
- RAND Corporation