Military Burden-Sharing Within the Alliance

Fair burden-sharing within the Alliance has always been a divisive issue and disagreements between the allies over this problem have been regular occurrences. The paper presents various ways in which the allies approach burden-sharing in NATO, stressing the differences between »input« and »output« measures, and the fact that it is very difficult to establish an appropriate formula and method for fair burden-sharing between the states. Too much emphasis is still being placed on »investment parameters« or input measures, while other forms of contributions by allies are not given enough weight. The paper focuses on the presentation of national military contributions as output.