Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

CHAPTER 9
INTRODUCTION OF EUROPEAN POLICIES
AND OPINIONS
RELATING TO TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Douglas Stuart
The four chapters in this section provide readers
with excellent surveys of the positions taken by European
governments on the question of whether tactical
nuclear weapons (TNWs)—or non-strategic nuclear
weapons (NSNWs), as they are frequently referred to
in the present book—should be retained by the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (<strong>NATO</strong>). Readers will
also come away with a good sense of European public
opinion relating to this complex issue. What they
are not likely to take away from these chapters is a
sense of optimism or a sense of policy direction. The
European debate over TNWs is, in the words of one
influential report, “at an impasse,” for four reasons. 1
The first factor that confounds debate on TNWs is
a lack of consensus on the role that they can <strong>and</strong> do
play. On the one h<strong>and</strong>, there is widespread agreement
that TNWs are of little or no military value. On the
other h<strong>and</strong>, the European allies disagree on the political
<strong>and</strong> psychological value of these weapons. Some
governments continue to view TNWs as an important
symbol of Washington’s Article 5 commitment to the
security of its <strong>NATO</strong> allies, while others are less convinced
of, or less concerned about, the contribution
that TNWs make to America’s extended deterrence
guarantee.
The fact that the <strong>NATO</strong> allies cannot agree on the
purpose or value of tactical nuclear weapons in Eu-
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