Book 6

The most important legal foundation of the contemporary European security order is the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). Negotiated by NATO and the Warsaw Pact states as the Cold War was ending, and implemented as the new Europe took shape, the CFE Treaty imposes strict limits on the armed forces of all the major European states. This book examines the origins and evolution of the CFE negotiations and impact of the CFE treaty. It draws extensively on interviews with participants in the CFE negotiations and offers not only a careful reconstruction of a process that contributed to the transformation of Cold War Europe, but also a critical assessment of the Treaty's contribution to security in post-Cold War Europe. It provides an evaluation of the lessons of CFE for future regional arms control initiatives.