The independent resource on global security
Europe after an American Withdrawal: Economic and Military Issues
At the beginning of the 1990s the United States commitment to NATO is being reassessed on both sides of the Atlantic, to take account of a less prosperous American security guarantor and an increasingly uncertain political environment in Europe. As a contribution to this debate, SIPRI has explored the effect of an American withdrawal from Europe. Analysts from both sides of the Atlantic were asked to assess the impact on the United States and on Western Europe of two hypothetical withdrawal options: option A assumed that US forces were withdrawn with no commitment to return; option B assumed a skeletal US military presence in Europe in peacetime with a commitment to return to reinforce NATO in time of war.
Europe after an American Withdrawal analyses the economic costs and benefits to the United States and to the individual host nations of removing US military forces and facilities from Europe. It also explores the military gaps that a withdrawal would create in the northern, central, and southern regions of Europe, as well as the gaps in command, control, communications, and intelligence facilities, and examines how the United States would cope without bases in Europe and how Western Europe would cope without a US military presence.
Table of contents
Part I. Introduction and summary
1. Why discuss US withdrawal?
Jane M. O. Sharp
2. Summary and conclusions
Jane M. O. Sharp
Part II. Economic implications of a US military withdrawal from Europe
3. US perspectives on the economic costs and benefits of a withdrawal of US troops and facilities from Europe
Alice C. Maroni
4. The impact of a withdrawal on US investments in Europe
Joseph R. Higdon and Paul J. Friedrich
5. The economics of US bases and facilities in Western Europe
David Greenwood
6. The economic impact of the stationing of US forces in the Federal Republic of Germany
Hartmut Bebermeyer and Christian Thimann
7. Economic consequences of a withdrawal of US forces from the Benelux states
Sami Faltas
8. Costs and benefits to the United Kingdom of the US military presence
Keith Hartley and Nicholas Hopper
9. The economic impact of a US military withdrawal from NATO's Northern Flank
Simon Duke
10. Economic aspects of the US military presence in Spain
José Molero
11. Costs and benefits of the US military presence in Portugal
Jane M. O. Sharp
12. Costs and benefits of the US military bases in Greece
Athanassios G. Platias
13. The economic costs and benefits of US–Turkish military relations
Saadet Deger
14. Economic costs and benefits of US military bases and facilities in Italy
Jennifer Sims
Part III. Military implications of a US military withdrawal from Europe
15. US withdrawal and NATO's Northern Flank: Impact and implications
Steven E. Miller
16. Mission gaps in Central Europe
Hilmar Linnenkamp
17. The military implications for NATO of a US withdrawal from the southern region
George E. Thibault
18. The contribution of US C3I to the defence of NATO
Paul Stares and John Pike
Part IV. Coping with a US withdrawal
19. Could NATO cope without US forces?
Martin Farndale
20. The United States coping without bases in Europe
Robert E. Harkavy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)/EDITORS
