Conceived in its contemporary usage in Cold War Europe, it was first formulated in the 1982 report of the Independent Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues, chaired by the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. Egon Bahr, a West German member of the Commission and a former adviser to Willy Brandt, has claimed credit for inventing the term. According to Geoffrey Wiseman, “common security is designed to be a long-term and pragmatic process that will eventually lead to peace and disarmament by changing thinking that has created the superpower arms race, prevented arms control and disarmament, and which has seen continued high levels of conventional conflict.”

The Palme Commission's report, Common Security: A Blueprint for Survival, described common security as underpinned by the assumption that security is best assured through cooperation rather than competitive power politics. The report set out six principles of common security: all nations have a legitimate right to security; military force is not a legitimate instrument for resolving disputes between nations; restraint is necessary in expressions of national policy; security cannot be attained through military superiority; reductions and qualitative limitations of armaments are necessary for common security; and “linkages” between arms negotiations and political events should be avoided.

The commission's report dismissed notions of security as a zero-sum phenomenon that can be attained unilaterally. It recognized that “inadvertent” war could arise from the dynamics of a reciprocal security dilemma, in which the defensive preparations of one state are seen as offensively intended by rival states. To avoid such a scenario, common security emphasizes the importance of reassuring potential adversaries. According to Palme, “states cannot achieve security at each other's expense”; security must be achieved “not against the adversary but with him”. Common security, the report went on, “must replace the present expedient of deterrence.” The Palme Commission also called for arms control, multilateral cooperation and the enhancement of the collective security functions of the United Nations.