In an era of great power competition, the role of alliances in managing escalation of conflict has acquired renewed importance. Nuclear weapons remain the ultimate means for deterrence and controlling escalation, and are central to US alliances in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. However, allies themselves need to better prepare for managing escalation in an increasingly challenging geostrategic and technological environment for the US and its allies. While the challenge of great power competition is acute at both ends of Eurasia, adversary threats, geography and the institutional context of US alliances differ. This book brings together leading experts from Europe, Northeast Asia, the United States and Australia to focus on these challenges, identify commonalities and differences across regions, and pinpoint ways to collectively manage nuclear deterrence and potential escalation pathways in America’s 21st century alliances. ‘Nuclear weapons play an important role in deterrence and preventing military conflict between great powers, while also posing an existential threat to humanity. It is vital that we have a nuanced understanding of this important challenge, so that such weapons are never used. This book offers many important perspectives and makes a significant contribution to the overall debate about these powerful weapons.’ — The Hon Julie Bishop, Chancellor, The Australian National University, Former Foreign Minister of Australia ‘This timely book identifies a wide range of challenges US alliances both in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic face as they seek to ensure the value of US extended deterrence, particular the US nuclear umbrella, against China and Russia. This unique collection of chapters written by experts in US allies in both regions presents widely varying security perceptions and priorities. To understand such differences is the key to globally strengthen the US alliance systems, which are a significant advantage Washington enjoys over the two competitors.’ — Yukio Satoh, former President of The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) ‘This is a timely and thoughtful collection of essays that should serve to jumpstart public discussion and debate—the absence of which is widely noted and much bemoaned. Each contributor examines an aspect of the complicated, multifaceted nuclear debate by discussing the range of dilemmas from deterrence to disarmament. The various views set out here are more relevant than ever as Russia, China and the United States flex their nuclear muscles in new and sometimes dangerous ways. This book should be read by anyone interested in the preventing the use of nuclear weapons and understanding complexities of alliances in an increasingly dangerous world.’ — Madelyn Creedon, former Principal Deputy Administrator of the US National Nuclear Security Administration and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs

This book explores the transformation of the American-led alliances, as well as of US allies’ responses to potential American disengagement from regional security amid the rising Russian and Chinese threats. The post-Cold War international order has led to three challenges for the West. The first challenge was the ending of the Cold War, which had served as the fundamental rationale of the US-centred alliance systems in both Europe and Asia. The second challenge was that while the fear of US disengagement in the post-Cold War era was initially about its political willingness, the relative decline of the US has gradually turned the question into that of capability. And the third challenge is that for the first time since very long, a war in which one of the great (nuclear) powers is involved takes place on European territory. In Europe, the immediate consequence of the war has been a strengthening of NATO. In Asia and the Indo-Pacific, regional reactions to the war have been much more muted, for the division between “friends and foes” remains less clear-cut than in Europe. The chapters in this volume bridge the dynamics in the European and Asian theatres and provide a comparative framework for examining security alignments amid the shifting strategic context of the Indo-Pacific. With 4 new chapters and a revised Introduction, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of Politics and International Relations, Asian and European studies. The other chapters were originally published in Asian Affairs.

This essential new volume reviews the threat perceptions, military doctrines, and war plans of both the NATO alliance and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, as well as the position of the neutrals, from the post-Cold War perspective. Based on previously unknown archival evidence from both East and West, the twelve essays in the book focus on the potential European battlefield rather than the strategic competition between the superpowers. They present conclusions about the nature of the Soviet threat that could previously only be speculated about and analyze the interaction between military matters and politics in the alliance management on both sides, with implications for the present crisis of the Western alliance. This new book will be of much interest for students of the Cold War, strategic history and international relations history, as well as all military colleges.

... dedicated to the advancement and understanding of those principles and practices, military and political, which serve the vital security interests of the United States.

This book, first published in 1990, examines the relationship between the Soviet Union and the Western Alliance at a time of great changes. Experts on a range of topics analyse the relationship from both the Soviet perspective (the impact of Gorbachev, and the role of Eastern Europe), and from the standpoint of the nations of the West including France, Great Britain and West Germany). Also included is a discussion of the role of the northern flank in Soviet nuclear-free proposals. The book concludes with an assessment of the challenges posed by the changing Soviet perspective, and the opportunities that these present for the Western Alliance.