The Idea of a “Safety Belt”*

Arnold Brecht

American Political Science Review, 1949, vol. 43, issue 5, 1001-1009

Abstract: After the North Atlantic Treaty. The North Atlantic treaty, with its incorporation of the principle that attack on any one of the signatory powers will be considered an attack on all, has done more than any previous measure to strengthen the morale of Western Europe. No longer need any of the participating European countries, whether big or small, be afraid that it might be left alone in the hour of attack. Against that hour, if it should have to come, all will prepare in common.On the other hand, it is obvious that this firm expression of the “will to defend” has gravely accentuated the dividing line between East and West. More definitely than ever, outside of the two World Wars, Europe has now realigned herself in two antagonistic camps, both heavily armed. This fact will receive further emphasis in the process of implementing the treaty. Each one of the many particular measures that will now be taken to organize and strengthen the common defense, and the concomitant increase in expenditures for armament—much more noticeable in democracies with their public discussion of all military and budgetary issues than in the silent realms of dictatorial censorship—will have the effect of a showing of teeth and rattling of sabers.

Date: 1949
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