Center of Gravity: Domestic Institutions and the Victory of Liberal Strategy in Cold War Europe

Abstract

Cold War strategy in Western Europe almost exclusively followed the US policy of containment. Conventional explanations for this continuity, however, fail to account for both the strategic rationale and the scale of domestic support behind attempts to 'disengage' from the Cold War. This article seeks to explain why containment won out over disengagement in European strategy. By highlighting the underlying liberal tenets of containment, it argues this victory owed more to the advantages afforded the political centre by the political institutions of Western Europe than to the logic of containment strategy itself. The occupation of the centre-ground by advocates of containment afforded them distinct institutional advantages, including an increased likelihood of representation in government, greater bargaining strength relative to other parties, and limited sources of viable opposition. The dependence of containment strategy on centrist strength is demonstrated through a discussion of the politics of strategy in the French Fourth Republic.

The Retreat of the West

“…Their dominance all but guaranteed broad and consistent domestic support for liberal internationalism. Across the West, liberal internationalists were well placed in the highest reaches of national government to frame public debate, influence foreign policymaking, and keep nationalist and populist pressures in check (Martill, 2019). Mainstream parties had solid bases in national legislatures and electorates.…”

“…Even in Europe, where communist parties were competitive, mainstream parties captured, on average, 70% to 75% of the vote during the 1970s and 1980s. The leaders of mainstream parties were well placed in the highest reaches of national government to frame public debate, influence foreign policymaking, and keep nationalist and populist pressures in check (Martill 2019). Their dominance all but guaranteed broad and consistent domestic support for Western governments' foreign policies.…”