ABSTRACT
Over the past year, developments in arms control have given added prominence to NATO's perennial efforts to improve its conventional force posture and have breathed new life into the moribund process of conventional arms control. The first such development is the recent progress toward completion of an intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty. The second development is the impetus toward the creation of a new and broader format for conventional arms control in Europe. As a result, there is renewed hope that arms control may yet offer a means for reducing the East-West disparity in conventional forces. At the same time, these developments throw into even greater relief existing disparities between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in conventional forces, and the need, through unilateral as well as negotiated measures, to achieve a more equitable balance.
