The US and Western Europe: a Troubled Partnership

Abstract

The ultimate goal of Kissinger’s global strategy — the establishment of a stable international order — was in Kissinger’s view threatened by the political multipolarity of the 1960s. Kissinger recognized that political multipolarity makes impossible the imposition of an American design. Instead, he advocated the establishment of an international system based on political multipolarity and military bipolarity. He was convinced, however, that the threat emanating from political multipolarity could be significantly reduced by resolving some of the apparently insoluble problems which beleagured NATO. In his perceptive books, The Necessity for Choice and The Troubled Partnership, Kissinger maintained that the forging of a common Atlantic policy with Western Europe was the most urgent task confronting American foreign policy.1 Hence his appointment as President Nixon’s Assistant for National Security Affairs generated the hope in Western Europe that some of NATO’s problems would be resolved.KeywordsNuclear WeaponNuclear ForceEuropean Economic CommunitySovereign StatePolitical UnityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.