Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the transformations in Europe's security landscape that have been responsible for the determination to promote a "new multinationalism." It describes the necessary institutional context for the contemporary debate over the future of the stationing regime, because the existence of the Alliance made it possible to transform smoothly the occupation into a true security partnership. The book examines the evolution of US stationing policies and practices in Germany. The Netherlands was the last Allied stationing country to deploy troops in Germany on a quasi-permanent basis. The political debate in Germany has been characterized of late by an unmistakable emphasis upon sovereignty and environmental issues, in many instances intimately connected with the stationing question. The book traces the evolution of the Dutch stationed forces in Germany, and shows the salience, all along, of political as well as military considerations.