Heinz Gaertner - Challenges of Verification: Smaller States and Arms Control

Heinz Gaertner

First published 1989 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright 1989 by the Institute for East-West Security Studies, Inc., New York.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gaertner, Heinz, 1951
Challenges of verification : smaller states and arms control / by Heinz Gaertner.
p.cm.--(Occasional paper series; 12)
1. Arms controlVerification. 2. EuropeMilitary policy. 3. States, Small. I. Title. II. Series. III. Series: Occasional paper series (Institute for East-West Security Studies); 12.
UA12.5G34 1989
327.1'74dc20

89-15351
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-01346-2 (hbk)

Although often overlooked, especially by the dominant powers of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the smaller alliance members and the neutral and nonaligned (NNA) states of Europe have played and continue to play a role in the arms control and disarmament process. Their involvement helps to overcome the traditional bloc character of arms control negotiations and gives them a forum for expressing their interests in the debate on European security. The excessive overarmament of the continent contributes to East-West tensions that affect every European country and have repercussions for the world at large. The NNA and the smaller members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact are actively engaged in all-European efforts toward reducing the level of tensions in Europe, such as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

As Heinz Gaertner argues in this Occasional Paper, one area of arms control in which the NN A and smaller European states can make a significant contribution is verification. This study explores the possibilities for the smaller nations of Europe to make positive contributions to the verification of reductions in conventional forces and arms, a chemical weapons convention and a comprehensive nuclear test ban. Dr. Gaertner provides an innovative analysis of the political and technical conditions for the participation of the NNA and smaller states in these areas of arms control and disarmament and assesses the importance of multilateral verification systems in each of these fields. At a time when hopes are raised for substantial reductions in armaments in many areas under negotiation, this Occasional Paper examines issues crucial to the successful implementation and maintenance of any agreements that may be achieved.

Dr. Gaertner wrote this Occasional Paper while a Resident Fellow at the Institute for East-West Security Studies during 1987-1989. He would like to express his appreciation to the Institute for its generous support and for providing the infrastructure to conduct this study. The many lively discussions with Institute Fellows and staff were especially stimulating. Dr. Gaertner is particularly indebted to a number of Institute staff members for their advice, criticism and help throughout the many stages of research and writing this Occasional Paper, including Mary Albon, Jonathan Bach, Ian M. Cuthbertson, Peter B. Kaufman, F. Stephen Larrabee and Allen Lynch, as well as publications intern Karen Kalina. Dr. Gaertner would also like to express his appreciation for the helpful comments of Curt Gasteyger, Chairman of the Institute's Academic Advisory Committee, and Institute Fellows Erik Hoffmann, David Robertson and Janusz Symonides. He also wishes to thank the Austrian Institute for International Affairs and its director, Hanspeter Neuhold, for the support of his residence at the Institute for East-West Security Studies. Valentin Inzko of the Austrian Mission to the United Nations was also extremely helpful.

The Institute gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for the Institute Fellows program and the publication and distribution of this study. Continued progress in many areas of arms control calls for a thorough exploration of the requirements of effective verification measures and the contributions the European statesboth the NNA and alliance memberscan make to their successful implementation. The Institute is pleased to sponsor Dr. Gaertner's Occasional Paper, which we believe makes a significant and thoughtful contribution to this discussion.

John Edwin Mroz
President
May 1989

Studies of international relations have usually emphasized the great powere, which are better able to impose their will on the course of events than other states. The study of smaller and medium-sized states This paper analyzes the possibilities for smaller states to play a role in arms control. It examines in particular specific actions smaller states could take in the multilateral arms control negotiating process.

What areas of the arms control process offer opportunities and possibilities for the participation of smaller states? (For the differences between "opportunities" and "possibilities" made for methodological purposes, see Appendix I.) Although smaller states have relatively modest influence, their contributions to multilateral negotiations can play a special role. On closer examination, specific areassupport, contribute to or even initiate proposals. For example, the group of neutral and nonaligned states (NNA) have acted as a mediator at key moments during the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), and prevented it from foundering on the rocks of East-West rivalries.