Review: The Politics of Nuclear Consultation in Nato 1965–1980
| Author | Robert P. Cameron |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070208403900123 |
| Date | 01 March 1984 |
| Published date | 01 March 1984 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
240
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
accurate
and
comprehensive
picture.
In
the meanwhile,
perhaps
the
Canada
Council
and
the
Ontario
Arts
Council
will
be
equally
gener-
ous
in
subsidizing
a
companion
volume
from
Canadians
for
Justice
in
the
Middle East
for
an
alternative
perspective
on
the
forces
shaping
the
region's
tumultuous
politics.
John
Sigler/Carleton
University
THE
POLITICS
OF
NUCLEAR
CONSULTATION
IN
NATO
1965-
198o
Paul
Buteux
New
York:
Cambridge
University
Press,
1983,
xiv,
292pp,
US$39.50
This
volume
on
the Nuclear
Planning
Group
(NPG)
of
the
North
Atlantic
Treaty
Organization
(NATO)
offers
the
student
of
inter-
national institutions
an
excellent
insight into
the
background,
func-
tions,
and
problems
of
a
little
known
consultative mechanism
of
the
alliance
which
was
set
up
some
twenty
years
ago following
the
intro-
duction
of
nuclear
weapons
into the
European
theatre. The
timing
of
its
publication
is
particularly
propitious,
given
the
growing
public
interest
in
nuclear
weapons
and
the
mounting
concern
regarding
the
risks
of
nuclear
war.
Dr
Buteux'
analysis
traces
the
origin
of
the
Nuclear
Planning
Group
and
credits
the
United
States
secretary
of
defense,
Robert
McNamara,
for
having
identified
the
need
for
a
mechanism
within
NATO
to
deal
with
the
potentially
important
political,
economic, and
strategic problems arising
out
of
the
introduction
of
United
States
nuclear
weapons
into
Europe.
What
strikes
the
reader
is
that
many
of
the
intra-alliance
differences
which
existed at
that
time
regarding
the
role
of
nuclear
weapons
remain
today.
The
establishment
of
the
NPG
represented
an
attempt
to
minimize these
differences
through
con-
sultation
and
if
possible
to
develop
a
degree
of
consensus
in
the
alli-
ance
on
the
policies
relating
to
their
possible
use.
Chapter
V
is
of
special
interest
to
observers
of
the
current
'Euro-
missile
debate';
it
describes
the
background
of
the
1979
NATO
minis-
terial
'two-track
decision'
and
accurately
identifies
the
extent
to
which
the
decision
was
caused
by a
difference
between American
and Euro-
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