Why NATO Needs a Flexible Response Strategy, Again
- Deterrence and Arms Control,
- EU and strategic partners,
- EU strategy and foreign policy,
- Europe in the World,
- European defence / NATO,
In many NATO capitals, the policy debate on nuclear deterrence is intensifying. This is no surprise. The nuclear saber-rattling that has accompanied Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine has offered Western leaders a stark reminder that NATO’s deterrence and defense continue to rely heavily on nuclear weapons. In 2023, NATO leaders tasked their military authorities with updating the key planning documents that inform the alliance’s thinking on nuclear deterrence. “NATO is ready and able to deter aggression and manage escalation risks in a crisis that has a nuclear dimension,” the NATO Vilnius Summit Communiqué stipulated. While this nuclear planning work has proceeded apace, gnawing doubts about the US commitment to NATO have continued to haunt many European capitals. The much-vaunted debate about the European dimension of French nuclear deterrence is evidence thereof, as is the emergence of loose talk about a new wave of nuclear proliferation.
This article was first published in Taylor & Francis Online and the full text can be read there.
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