Security and Stability: A North Atlantic Approach
| Date | 01 December 1955 |
| Author | John Meisel |
| Published date | 01 December 1955 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205501000403 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
SECURITY
AND
STABILITY:
A
NORTH
ATLANTIC
APPROACH
John
Meisel*
HE
manner
in
which
world
events
affect
the
United
States,
Britain
and Canada
and
the
relations
they
maintain
among
themselves
was
the
subject
of an
unofficial
conference
held
at
the
Seigniory
Club, Montebello,
Quebec,
from
September
seventh
to
the
eleventh.
Delegations
came
from
the
Royal
Institute
of
International
Affairs
(London),
the
Council
on
For-
eign
Relations
(New
York)
and
the
Canadian
Institute
of
Inter-
national
Affairs,
which sponsored
the
conference.
The
theme
of
the
Conference was
"Security
and
Stability:
a
North
Atlantic
Approach."
The
proceedings
were opened
by
statements
from
the
leaders
of
the
three
delegations
analyzing
the
approach
of
their
respective
countries
to
the
main
problems
of
defence and
economic
relations,
followed
by
a
brief
discussion.
Two
sessions
were
devoted
to
security
and
defence,
with
parti-
cular
emphasis
on
Europe,
but
with
considerable
discussion
of
the
latest
phase
of
communist
tactics
in
both
Europe
and
Asia
and
of
their
implications
for the
western
alliance.
Three
ses-
sions
were
concerned
with
economic
relations,
particularly
in
the
field
of
trade,
with
questions
arising
out
of American
trade
policies
being
given
special
attention.
The
final
session
sum-
marized and
emphasized
the
general
conclusions
emerging
from
the
earlier
discussions.
The discussions
at
Montebello
provided
a number
of
well-
informed
individuals
from
countries
of
the
"North
Atlantic
triangle"
with
an
opportunity
of
assessing
the international
situation
since
the
Geneva conference held
"at
the
summit"
in
July.
Few
members
thought
that
the
Soviet
fashion
of
the
"open
grin"
and
the
"glad
hand"
(as
one
delegate
called
it)
had
altered fundamentally
the
cold
war;
recent
changes
were
taken
into
account,
but
on
the
whole
factors
held
to
be
of
reasonably
long-term
standing
received
the
most
attention.
There
was
agreement
among
the
delegates
1
that
the
West
could
not
now
risk
relaxing
its
vigilance,
but
that
it
must
not
*Assistant Professor
of
Political
Science,
Queen's
University,
Kingston,
Ontario.
1.
It
should
be
noted
that
opinions
expressed
at
an
unofficial
con-
ference may
be
the
views
held
by
the
speaker
alone,
by
his
delega-
tion,
his
government
or
they
may
be
what
the
speaker
guesses
public
opinion
to
be
in
his
country.
They
can, of course,
be
any combina-
tion
of
these.
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