Conventional arms control in the 21st century

The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was signed in Paris on Nov. 19, 1990. Signed between the 16 members of NATO and six members of the Warsaw Pact, the treaty aimed to eliminate force disparities between the two military camps and to establish an effective system of verification. 

The CFE Treaty has an interesting history. Although it was signed between 22 countries, it was ratified by 30 countries because of the developments in the international system due to the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and later, of the Soviet Union. The treaty entered into force on July 17, 1992. 

Some of the former Soviet republics have formed the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in 1994. Many members of the Warsaw Pact joined NATO. As the conditions in political geography changed due to all these developments, the CFE Treaty was revised in 1999 and signed in Istanbul. That latest version is now referred to as the Adapted CFE Treaty. 

The course of events and the changes in the international scene, however, developed further. Today, NATO has 29 members. In March 2015, Russia halted its participation in the CFE Treaty. Under the circumstances, many question the de facto validity of the CFE Treaty today. The task in front of the international community, therefore, is how to make conventional arms control fit for the 21st century. Is there a need for it? What should the architecture of the new conventional arms control look like?

These questions were addressed last week at a Conference in Berlin, organized by the European Leadership Network and facilitated by the German Federal Foreign Office. As this week marks the beginning of two important military exercises, namely the Zapad-2017 organized by Russia, with the...