Territorial Defense in NATO and Non-NATO Europe

Pressures working on defense structures of European NATO countries, particularly those of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), tend to favor a change to latent conscript forces oriented toward territorial defense on one hand, standing volunteer armies on the other. Political, financial, and military potentialities of a combination of such forces are discussed, and a detailed comparison made of territorial defense concepts and forces, as well as civil defense preparations, in four countries--Switzerland and Yugoslavia (which do not participate in NATO's military integration) and Norway and France (which do so to a much lesser extent than the FRG). As long as the Germans and others in NATO believe that a shift toward latent forces endangers the alliance, and as long as U.S. attitudes confirm this belief, the potentialities of such forces will not be fully realized. The study draws on interviews the author conducted with military and civil defense specialists in West Germany, Norway, Sweden, and France.