ABSTRACT
From the viewpoint of the Soviet Union and large segments of the political spectrum of Western and neutral/nonaligned (NNA) nations, the main task of conventional arms control is halting the arms race in Europe. At the moment there is no specific or pressing need to use conventional arms control to change anything about the current international political-military order in Europe. Thus conventional arms control approaches in Europe should at most be oriented toward incremental change. These demands have various important implications for the foreseeable future: Conventional arms control in Europe should be viewed as serving different purposes. It seems to be reasonable to design conventional arms control in Europe as a three-phase process. Stability in Europe cannot be defined in terms of deterrence or arms race prevention only. The structure of the international system, or the "international order," as some call it, is of equal if not primary importance.
