NATO in the 1980s: Between European Pillar and European Home

Abstract

This article looks at the transatlantic security relationship during the 1980s. It argues that the relative decline of U.S. power and absolute changes in the postwar international system encouraged two trends among key European middle powers. On the one hand, nations such as France, Italy, and Britain exhibited a new defense consciousness and a new sense of responsibility for national and regional security. On the other hand, Western European governments and publics sought relief in Mikhail Gorbachev's vision of a "common European home" from the problems inherent in the transatlantic security relationship. The tension between these two trends is discussed, and the reasons for the ultimate success of the European home at the expense of a European "second pillar" within NATO are considered.