Non-Offensive Defence

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Collective defence under Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty forms the backbone of the Alliance bargain. But several of NATO's easternmost countries are seeking stronger security guarantees in the face of growing tensions with Moscow. Any additional NATO or US bases on the soil of ‘vulnerable’ NATO members should be unambiguously defensive in nature. Discussions about Non-Offensive Defence in the mid 1980s suggested that it was possible to significantly restructure military forces for defensive, rather than offensive operations, and to adopt a non-nuclear policy, while still retaining the capacity to inflict serious damage against an aggressor. Could the principles of Non-Offensive Defence be updated to help shape a revised collective defence posture for the Alliance? This is a summary list of all the content in the site categorised within the Non-Offensive Defence policy area.

20th
Jan
2010

Strengthening the Non-Aggression Norm within NATO

Submitted by ian on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 17:47
in
Original publication date: 
Thu, 09/17/2009 - 01:00

Criticism of Germany as an unreliable military ally is widespread and growing. But rather than deregulating the rules of German military engagement, we should be looking to include similar non-aggression clauses in the national legislation of other NATO member states.

Atlantic Community Op Ed