Britain, NATO and Nuclear Weapons: Alternative Defence Versus Alliance Reform

383 Pages·1989·37 MB·English

by  Ken Booth

BRITAIN, NATO AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Also by Ken Booth
AMERICAN THINKING ABOUT PEACE AND WAR (co-editor)
CONTEMPORARY STRATEGY: Theories and Policies (joint author)
LAW, FORCE AND DIPLOMACY AT SEA
THE MILITARY INSTRUMENT IN SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY, 1917-72
NAVIES AND FOREIGN POLICY
SOVIET NAVAL POLICY (co-editor)
STRATEGY AND ETHNOCENTRISM
Also by John Baylis
*ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO BRITISH DEFENCE POLICY (editor)
*ANGLO-AMERICAN DEFENCE RELATIONS, 1939-84
BRITISH DEFENCE POLICY IN A CHANGING WORLD (editor)
CONTEMPORARY STRATEGY: Theories and Policies (joint author)
*NUCLEAR WAR AND NUCLEAR PEACE (joint author)
SOVIET STRATEGY (co-editor)
*Also published by Macmillan
Britain, NATO and
Nuclear Weapons
Alternative Defence versus Alliance Reform
Ken Booth and John Baylis
M
MACMILLAN
©Ken Booth and John Baylis 1989
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
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or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
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issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place,
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First published 1989
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS L TO
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
Typeset by Footnote Graphics,
Warminster, Wiltshire
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Booth, Ken
Britain, NATO and nuclear weapons :
alternative defence versus alliance reform.
I. North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Role of Great Britain
I. Title ll. Baylis, John, /946-
355' .031 '091821
ISBN 978-0-333-43404-8 ISBN 978-1-349-19667-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19667-8
To Emma and Katie
and to Rob and Tom
Contents
Preface X
Acknowledgements xii
PART I ALTERNATIVE DEFENCE 1
Ken Booth
1 A Debate to be Won 3
The Advent of Alternative Defence 3
The Broken Consensus 6
The 1987 General Election: Defence and Democracy 14
The Myths, Threats and Promises of the Double-Zero
Agreement 25
Towards a Critical Non-Nuclear Mass? 42
2 What is Wrong with Britain's Existing Defence Policy? 66
Strategic Dangers 66
Political Problems 68
Economic Costs 70
Has the Deterrent Deterred? 72
Operational, Moral and International Security Issues 76
3 Towards a Stable Peace 87
A 'Legitimate International Order' 87
'The Soviet Threat' 90
'Process Utopians' 95
4 Towards a Non-Provocative Defence Policy 103
The Principle of Non-Provocative Defence 104
From Pro-Nuclear to Non-Nuclear 109
From Flexible Response to Defensive Deterrence 112
From an Atlanticist to a more European NATO 124
The Military Balance 142
An Alternative Agenda 144
5 Criticisms of a Non-Nuclear Defence Policy 156
Would it be Hypocritical for a Non-Nuclear Britain to
remain within NATO? 162
VII
Vlll Contents
Would the Renunciation of Nuclear Weapons by Britain
make War more Likely? 162
Would Conventional Defence be more Costly? 168
Would British Nuclear Disarmament Weaken if not
Shatter NATO? 173
Can a Non-nuclear Strategy be Successful in War? 189
Would a Non-nuclear Britain be Exposed to Nuclear
Blackmail? 194
Would Soviet Russia Reciprocate? 204
6 Conclusion 211
Reciprocal Security 214
Living with Soviet Russia 221
World Order Building 228
Losing a Burden, Finding a Role 232
PART II ALLIANCE REFORM 237
John Baylis
7 Nuclear Deterrence and the Preservation of Peace 239
Has Nuclear Deterrence Kept the Peace? 240
Is Nuclear War More likely in the Future than in the
Past? 243
Defending the Status Quo 245
8 How Valid are the Criticisms of Nuclear Deterrence? 248
Morality and Nuclear Deterrence 248
The Dangers of Nuclear Deterrence 255
The Credibility of Nuclear Deterrence 261
Nuclear Deterrence and Proliferation 264
Nuclear Deterrence, the United States and British
Independence 266
Nuclear Deterrence and East-West Tensions 268
The Cost of Nuclear Weapons 272
Nuclear Weapons, Political Prestige and Influence 275
The Utility of Nuclear Weapons in Lesser
Contingencies 277
A Summary of the arguments 278
Contents ix
9 The Political Problems of Non-nuclear Strategies 284
The Nature of Non-Nuclear, Non-Provocative
Strategies 284
Alliance Difficulties 287
The Question of Nuclear Blackmail 293
10 The Military Problems of Non-nuclear Strategies 300
The Difficulty of dealing with Armoured Forces 300
The Difficulty of dealing with Nuclear-armed Forces 301
The Case of Yugoslavia 307
The Balance of Risk 309
11 Towards a New Strategic Concept for NATO 312
The Future of British Defence Policy 312
The Reform of NATO Strategy 320
The Advantages of an Extended Firebreak Strategy 327
Is the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) the Long-term
Solution? 340
The Implications of the Global Double-Zero
Agreement 346
12 Towards a Broader Conception of Security 353
The Political Aspects of Security 354
The Notions of 'Common', 'Cooperative' and
'Reciprocal' Security 355
An Agenda for the Future 359
Index 365
Preface
This book, written at a time when so many issues in European
security are at a crossroads, is by two friends and colleagues who are
on opposite sides of the nuclear debate. It has been written in the
hope that our own mind-clearing and dialogue will help others who
continue to agonise over this most complex and important issue in
British public policy. The reader will find the book an unusual con
tribution to the subject, since it is neither a debate between
ideological rivals who talk past each other, nor is it one of those
ostensibly 'balanced' surveys which actually stack the cards one way
or the other. We do not have radically different views of the nature of
international politics or of the preferred direction for British society.
In foreign policy we both rejected Cold War stereotypes and endorse
notions of common or reciprocal security, while in domestic matters
we belong in the centre. At the root of our differences over nuclear
weapons are divergent assessments of the balance of the strategic,
political and moral risks we all face.
The book is divided into two parts, in which we each make our
case. We have avoided addressing each other's arguments point by
point, in a pedantic fashion, but instead have concentrated on
presenting our own coherent and comprehensive explanations. How
ever, we have criticised (or endorsed) each other's arguments where
appropriate, and have also criticised the views of others who advocate
different versions of the non-nuclearorpro/nuclearcases. The different
approaches adopted mean that there is one major asymmetry in the
book. Since Part I seeks to advance an alternative way of thinking about
the problem, and how to cope with it, it has been necessary to deal with a
much wider range of issues there (foreign and domestic, political and
strategic) than is the case in Part II, which is concerned to improve the
existing structure of policies and attitudes.
We have deliberately avoided attempting to achieve a final com
promise position, although this might be cause for criticism. We
thought that such an ending would have been spurious, for what we
could have accepted as friends and colleagues would not necessarily
have been possible or relevant for those involved in the burly-burly of
daily politics; in any case, we both believe that our individual cases
are to be preferred to compromise positions. Before compromising,
people should be clear where they stand, and why.
X