Common Security and Non-offensive Defence: A Neorealist Perspective

Common security and non-offensive defence is the first book to explore in depth and comprehensively the implications of switching to a new type of defence structure, non-offensive defence (NOD), that would maintain an undiminished or even improved capability for defence while possessing no offensive capabilities. While the collapse of communism and the breakdown of the Soviet alliance system in 1989-90 ended the cold war, events since have demonstrated that world peace is not about to break out. The case for NOD is stronger today than it has ever been. With the Balkans, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union all crisis areas, and with NATO countries seeking a new role for their defence forces, to believe that the current crises are the last twitchings of a moribund old order, rather than feature of a new system may well prove naively optimistic. The post-bipolar world may be characterized by patterns of co-operation and confrontation which may be transient and fluctuating; it is not obvious in today's climate, for instance, why Greece and Turkey should join ranks against Bulgaria. NOD would provide the solution to the problems of war prevention and disarmament in a post-nuclear setting by minimizing both war-making capabilities, and the incentives for waging wars of aggression. The advantages of switching to NOD would be enhanced possibilities for arms control and and disarmament, increased crisis stability and the elimination of incentives for preventive war and pre-emptive attack. Moller compares NOD with its traditional military strategy and elaborates its distinguishing features with regard to land, air and maritime forces, as well as nuclear strategy. He also analyzes the implications of NOD for alliances in general and NATO in particular, finding no incompatibilities in principle. Placing NOD in theoretical perspective, Moller sees it as a logical corollary of common security which in turn is consistent with both realist and neorealist approaches to the study of international relations. "Bjo/rn Mo/ller is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Research at the University of Copenhagen. He is the author of" Resolving the security dilemma in Europe: the German debate on non-offensive defence" and is the editor of the" NOD International Research Newsletter.

Table of Contents:
The study of NOD; realism, common security and NOD; NOD and alliances; NOD and armaments dynamics; NOD and war prevention; NOD and traditional strategy; the strategy of NOD; conclusion; NOD as an instrument of security policy.