Report on Allied Contributions to the Common Defense

Abstract

This report responds to Congress' interest in the extent to which our principal allies are contributing their fair share of the effort to provide for our common defense. It analyzes various burdensharing indices and factors for the United States, our NATO allies and Japan, offers some conclusions as to recent and current performance, and describes what is being done to encourage the allies to do more. Our defense arrangements with members of NATO and Japan rest on formal commitments, freely made by sovereign nations, to contribute by collective efforts to our common security. Alliances, like other agreements, remain healthy so long as they respond to shared national interests. They remain acceptable to members so long as risks and responsibilities are--and are perceived as being--equitably shared. The contributions of partners include both material (quantifiable) factors as well as intangibles (e.g., political factors, as when governments persevere in policies serving overall security interests in the face of competing domestic and international pressures).

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA265119

Entities

People

  • Frank C. Carlucci

Organizations

  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Alliances
  • Congress
  • Domestic
  • Governments
  • Materials
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • International Relations and European Studies
  • Strategic Security Studies