ABSTRACT
International security, its development and management, is being placed in a very different context as a result of the spectacular changes. By the summer of 1990, we were committing ourselves to a multipolar security system as the antagonisms of the bipolar Cold War were blunted. The success of arms control negotiations, at least in the conventional area, led many to believe that the useful days of bilateral and multilateral negotiations or agreements were limited: unilateral reductions and postures would set the pace. The risks of non-verifiability of certain capabilities were being held to be less important than the realization of an agreement, for example chemoical arms. The military threats within Europe have obviously receded following the breakdown of the Warsaw Pact and agreement on conventional force reductions. Nuclear weapons have imposed useful constraints and incentives on actors considering conflict; constraints on their willingness to use force and incentives to move forward cooperatively.
