| Publication |
2005.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Now that the bilateral perspective of the missile defence issue has become obsolete, its multinational character has more clearly come to the surface. The analyses of this Special Issue deal with the domestic politics of missile defence policy in 16 democratic countries. Among the nine key findings developed here are: the termination of the ABM Treaty has been grudgingly accepted, or cautiously welcomed, with greatest resentments alive in Russia; the United States' territorial shield has strong supporters, but is not broadly legitimized; almost all democracies share a consensus on Theatre Missile Defence for protection of expeditionary forces; the United States is the dominant power structuring the entire missile defence area, although America with all its influence is a necessary albeit not a sufficient factor in explaining the missile defence policies of other democracies. The contributors add three major explanatory factors: the broad foreign policy orientation or political culture, domestic politics and structure, and to a lesser extent the threat perception of the individual democracies.
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