| Abstract: | The INF Treaty, a turning-point in the nuclear arms race, was preceded by massive protests against nuclear armaments around the world, thus providing a test of the old belief that world opinion is crucial for peace and security. At issue is whether the treaty came about because of, regardless of or in spite of this international opinion. Three propositions about the relationship between international opinion-formation and foreign policymaking are thus outlined in the paper and are then applied to the INF case. It appears that anti-nuclear opinion was effective in part and counter-productive in part. A salient feature of the INF process was its unpredictability, which suggests several reasons why international opinion-formation is apt to lead to unexpected results. |
