The Crisis of the Western Alliance
Abstract
The Western alliance has ceased to be an instrument for policies to be pursued in common by its members. A tour d'horizon of the world scene presents a shocking picture of disintegration. There is not a single of the outstanding issues of world politics on which all members of the alliance see eye to eye. The United States stands alone in its policies vis-'a-vis China, South Vietnam, and Cuba. The United States stands also alone in its policies concerning trade with the Communist nations. Great Britain, on the one hand, and West Germany and France, on the other, have taken contradictory positions with regard to Berlin. As concerns the German question as a whole and the overall relations between the West and the Soviet Union, irreconcilable divergencies of interest and policies have made abstention from initiative and a passive commitment to the status quo the order of the day. Greece and Turkey have been on the brink of war over Cyprus. In Africa, the allies go their separate ways; Portugal, in particular, stands virtually alone. The policies of the United States and France toward the United Nations are diametrically opposed. A similar cleavage separates France from the United States and Great Britain in the field of disarmament. As concerns military strategy and the policies implementing it, the United States is at loggerheads with its major European allies on two basic. questions: the role of conventional forces and the disposition of nuclear weapons.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- ADB241434
Entities
People
- Hans J. Morgenthau
Organizations
- Center for Strategic and International Studies