Arms Control: For and By Europe
According to this CSS Policy Perspective by Alexander Bollfrass and Mariana Budjeryn, the nuclear arms control architecture that underwrites European security is crumbling. Europe cannot achieve global nuclear disarmament or build its own credible deterrent, but it can clear the path for the next generation of arms governance through joint action.
Key Points:
- Cooperative strategic nuclear arms control, key to Europe’s post-Cold War security, has become hostage to returning great power competition.
- A European diversity in nuclear weapons status and NATO affiliation makes the pursuit of a nuclear ban or a credible pan-European deterrent untenable.
- An institutionalized European coalition for arms control will amplify European capacity to influence nuclear arms reductions and shape multilateral non-nuclear arms governance.