Common Security and Nonoffensive Defense:

Bjorn Møller explores the implications of switching to a new type of defense structure, nonoffensive defense (NOD), that would maintain an undiminished—or even improved—capability for defense while possessing no offensive capabilities. The advantages of such a switch, he posits, would be enhanced possibilities for arms control and disarmament, increased crisis stability, and the elimination of incentives for preventive war and preemptive attack.

Møller compares NOD with traditional military strategy and elaborates its distinguishing features with regard to land, air, and maritime forces, as well as nuclear strategy. He also analyzes the implications of NOD for alliances in general and NATO in particular, finding no incompatibilities in principle. Placing NOD in theoretical perspective, Moller sees it as a logical corollary of "common security," which in turn is consistent with both "realist" and "neorealist" approaches to the study of international relations.