ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the political context in which issues of conventional force improvements and conventional arms control will be addressed in the near- to mid-term. It examines how the trend toward a less-nuclear Europe and toward increasing reliance on conventional forces might affect the alliance strategy of flexible response. The chapter suggests possible approaches to redressing the current conventional imbalance favoring the Warsaw Pact. It proposes a set of general guidelines for pursuing conventional arms control. Developments in arms control have given added prominence to NATO's perennial efforts to improve its conventional force posture and have breathed new life into the moribund process of conventional arms control. The Soviet Union has undertaken a massive and coordinated effort to convince Western publics that it sincerely wishes to eliminate the East-West arms competition and is prepared to relinquish its capacity to threaten Western Europe with both nuclear weapons and conventional forces.
