ABSTRACT
Conventional arms control is intricately related to a variety of issues: US-European relations, the structure of NATO, the role of the Soviet Union in the Warsaw Pact, and the future of Mikhail Gorbachev's new policy. In the case of the forthcoming phase of conventional arms control, the Soviet Union will hence be more than ever an internal actor in the Western public debate. Conventional arms control must make sure that such a capacity, which the Warsaw Pact constantly exercises, is not enhanced by future agreements. The most important imperative consists of drawing a bottom line of nuclear arms control in order to preserve flexible response. Important links exist between conventional arms control and efforts to gradually change the East-West political relationship. Western force improvements must continue independent of the arms control process, even though they might be affected by negotiated outcomes. The West would be well served to focus early on an East-West discussion on military doctrine and on confidence-building measures.
