Issue Brief: Conventional Arms Control in Europe

Nuclear weapons thankfully are not employed but linger in the “dark corners” of deterrence, conventional weapons have been killing and wounding and directly threatening peace and stability in Europe. This Issue Brief a number of fundamental questions about conventional arms control: What are the goals for European security? How can arms control objectives serve those goals? How can we work towards those goals within a “Helsinki 2” type process that addresses all aspects of security in Europe, not just the military dimension?

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Abstract

There is no question that conventional arms control in Europe is in a dry and difficult time. European security and cooperation have long rested on several components, with the military dimension in turn composed of two complimentary elements, strategic nuclear and conventional arms control and confidence-building measures. Today progress towards deep cuts in the strategic arms of Russia and the United States depends in part on resolving perceived conventional threat imbalances.

Any future arms control regime should include the following four elemnts that will be xplored in the issue brief.

numerical limits on things that can be counted,
inclusion of countable things that most threaten aggression,
transparency measures, and
a consultative mechanism