Publisher's Synopsis
This book examines Europe's defence, which it claims is at a major turning-point. As US President George Bush gets to grips with federal and trade deficits, and the US strategic focus moves away from Europe, the US role in European security is changing. Meanwhile Mikhail Gorbachev has shifted the USSR's official thinking on security, and the traditional Soviet "enemy" of the Cold War has become a much more problematic focus for hostility and fear. In the wake of the signing of the INF treaty, Europe is divided over nuclear modernization and its role in NATO. It is a crucial era in the field of international politics and security policy. But orthodox security thinking in Western Europe, it is argued, is entirely failing to address the challenges and opportunities thrown up by the current volatile atmosphere.