Norway in Nato: A Partial Commitment?
| Date | 01 March 1965 |
| Published date | 01 March 1965 |
| Author | H. Peter Krosby |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000106 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Norway
in
Nato:
A
Partial
Commitment?
H.
Peter
Krosby*
In
the
autumn
of
1963
there
appeared
in
the
United
States
a
small
book
by
Professor
Nils
6rvik
of
Oslo
University,
an
explo-
sive volume
in which
the
policy
of
Norway as
a
member
of
the
North
Atlantic
Treaty
Organization
was
for
the first
time
seriously
challenged
by
a
responsible
and informed
Norwegian
scholar and Labour
party
politician
on
the
grounds
that
it
was
too weak
to
provide
a
reasonable
measure
of
security
for
Norway
and
could,
potentially,
undermine
the
entire
alliance.
1
The
book
presented an
ingenious
and
detailed
plot
for
possible
Soviet
measures
designed
to
destroy
the
credibility
of
the
solidarity
pledge
on
which
the
security
of
the
NATO
members
rests.
It
was
not
an
implausible plot,
and
the
book,
though
open
to
several
and
fundamental
criticisms, made
for
very
exhilarating
reading.
Few Norwegians
were
aware
of
its
publication,
however,
until
Dr.
Orvik
opened
his
Pandora's
box
in
an
address
to
the
dis-
tinguished
and
prestigious
Oslo
Military
Society.
2 A
lengthy-
if
not
a particularly
substantial-public
debate
ensued
in
the
Norwegian
daily
press,
chiefly
in
the
pages
of
the
leading
organ
of
the
governing
Labour
party,
the
Arbeiderbiadet.
Left-wing
pacifists
turned
out
in
force
to
dominate
the
debate, and
very
few
made an
effort to
come
to grips
with
Dr.
Orvik's
main
ideas,
which
he
restated
in
several
articles and
letters
in
the
course
of
the
debate.3
Most of
his
critics,
or
detractors,
seemed
satisfied
to
brand
him a
dangerous
and
vicious
warmonger.
The
article
which
Dr.
Orvik
has
contributed
to
this
issue
of
the
International
Journal
is
only
a
mild
echo
of
his
book.
It
is
also
a
great
deal
more
credible
and
much
less
vulnerable
to
criticism.
Most
of
what
he
has
to
say
is
cautiously realistic.
In
*
Departments
of
History
and
Scandinavian
Studies,
University
of
Wisconsin.
1
Nils
Orvik,
Europe's
Northern
Cap
and the
Soviet
Union,
with
a
fore-
word
by
Henry
A.
Kissinger (Cambridge:
Harvard
University
Press,
Occasional
Papers
in
International
Affairs, No.
6,
September,
1963).
2
Reported
in
Arbeiderbladet
(Oslo),
November
19,
1963.
3
The
articles
appeared
in
Arbeiderbladet
on
December
16, 1963,
Jan-
uary
8,
1964,
and
March
6,
1964.
The
letters
appeared
on
December
23,
1963,
March
20,
1964,
and
April
28,
1964.
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