ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a particular possibility for beginning the nuclear disarmament process at the bottom rather than at the top—that is, by beginning with the elimination of battlefield nuclear weapons rather than with the elimination or substantial reduction of strategic nuclear weapons. Nuclear disarmament is both a goal and a process. The goal of nuclear disarmament, Utopian at present, is complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The process of nuclear disarmament consists of those actions and policies that move the world toward that goal. An additional feature of beginning nuclear disarmament process at the bottom is obvious implication that a violation of an agreement to eliminate small short-range nuclear weapons would automatically bring nuclear weapons of the next larger size and range into play in some form. Arms control must contribute to peace in a world where conventional war in such critical areas as Europe is virtually as dangerous as nuclear war because it is certain to lead to nuclear war.
