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Belfer Center Studies in International Security
Shaping Europe's New Military Order: The Origins and Consequences of the Cfe Treaty
"Richard Falkenrath has written a magisterial exegesis -- an essential item in the library of anyone seriously interested in security in the post-Cold War world."
-- "Survival" The legal foundation of the contemporary European security order is the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). Negotiated by NATO and the Warsaw Pact states as the Cold War was ending and implemented as the new Europe took shape, the CFE Treaty imposes strict limits on the armed forces of all the major European states.
-- "Survival" The legal foundation of the contemporary European security order is the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). Negotiated by NATO and the Warsaw Pact states as the Cold War was ending and implemented as the new Europe took shape, the CFE Treaty imposes strict limits on the armed forces of all the major European states.
300 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1995
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August 17, 2017
If you are looking for information on the origins and negotiation of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, and I know you are if you are reading this, then this is your book. Written in 1995, it comes after several years of implementation of the treaty by someone who was very involved with it.
Overall it is highly recommended if the topic interests you. It also goes beyond the negotiations that led to the treaty and the details about its contents by providing a wider context to European political and security developments at the end of the Cold War and dissolution of the Soviet Union. I’d say those elements are a bonus to give you context, but also to stay out of dry negotiation and treaty details.
The book does a great job of explaining key negotiation issues (e.g., getting the data declarations right, negotiating the equipment ceilings and their reduction, and how to verify all of this). However, the context in which this is all happening is always present to the negotiations (and during ratification and early implementation): the Warsaw Pact dissolves, Germany re-unifies, and the Soviet Union breaks up with significant consequences for the military equipment in successor states. The author stresses that the negotiators (at least in the West) were seeking to move as fast as possible to secure the gains they had in the negotiations and never adjusted the overall approach to meet this new reality. This approach had consequences for the treaty – it no longer reflected the reality it meant to address and did not address the new Russian security concerns.
Overall it is highly recommended if the topic interests you. It also goes beyond the negotiations that led to the treaty and the details about its contents by providing a wider context to European political and security developments at the end of the Cold War and dissolution of the Soviet Union. I’d say those elements are a bonus to give you context, but also to stay out of dry negotiation and treaty details.
The book does a great job of explaining key negotiation issues (e.g., getting the data declarations right, negotiating the equipment ceilings and their reduction, and how to verify all of this). However, the context in which this is all happening is always present to the negotiations (and during ratification and early implementation): the Warsaw Pact dissolves, Germany re-unifies, and the Soviet Union breaks up with significant consequences for the military equipment in successor states. The author stresses that the negotiators (at least in the West) were seeking to move as fast as possible to secure the gains they had in the negotiations and never adjusted the overall approach to meet this new reality. This approach had consequences for the treaty – it no longer reflected the reality it meant to address and did not address the new Russian security concerns.
Displaying 1 of 1 review