The Low Countries' NATO Policy

This is one of a series of seven RAND Notes written as part of the project on Theater Nuclear Deterrence after the INF Treaty, sponsored by the U.S. Air Forces Europe (USAFE), analyzing the potential alternative short-run NATO policies of major member nations. This Note explores the near-term future of Belgian and Dutch security policy, particularly as it affects the Western alliance. It examines the domestic environment in which the Low Countries' NATO policy is formulated and the reasons the security consensus in these countries is currently in transition. It also looks at the state of the Belgian and Dutch defense efforts. Finally, the Note speculates the Low Countries' NATO policies over the next five years, arguing that arms control, detente, and a declining defense capability should increasingly characterize Belgian and Dutch security policy over the short run. Furthermore, these characteristics of security will likely remain intact, no matter what changes occur in Soviet or other NATO countries' security policies or in the domestic political situation.