Missile Defenses and Western European Security: Nato Strategy, Arms Control, and Deterrence

This study examines the logic underlying the Western European reactions to Ronald Reagan’s announcement of plans for the strategic defense initiative (SDI) in March 1983, and assesses the validity of European anxieties about missile defenses. Robert Soofer attempts to determine whether strategic and tactical missile defenses can in fact contribute to US and Western security. In his introduction, the author traces the history of NATO’s doubts concerning the strategic nuclear guarantee, which were frequently expressed after the Soviets’ first successful missile launches in the late 1950s. He next looks at Western European reactions to the SDI announcement and NATO’s strategic thinking on deterrence and escalation. He discusses the relation between arms control considerations and the strategic defense intiative, focusing on NATO fears that SDI would lead to the abrogation of the 1972 ABM Treaty and with it the end of the arms control process. Turning to antitactical missile defense, Soofer argues that despite political opposition, there exists a substantial strategic rationale for missile defenses deployed in Western Europe. This book is for specialists, students, and academics in the fields of strategic studies, peace studies, arms control, diplomacy, and international relations.