ABSTRACT
Attempts to assess the defence contribution of individual members involve a complex and frequently artificial process. Measurement of input, or resources devoted to defence, can be done in a number of ways involving economic criteria. As the 1982 Pentagon Report on alliance burden-sharing states, NATO has attempted to deal with some of these problems, e.g. by agreeing on a common definition of what constitutes defence expenditures. As the 1981 report was compiled at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, it was largely a bureaucratic effort, somewhat predictable in style, tone and substance, stating that alliance burden-sharing was more equitable than popularly imagined, but that, in view of the threat, everyone had to do better. Evaluation of burden-sharing or equity in defence effort is a highly complex and frequently subjective process. Cross-country comparison of economic data presents many problems, which are compounded if qualitative factors are also considered.
