Strategic Defenses And The Transition To Assured Survival

"This report details the anatomy and calculus of the ballistic missile portion of the transition to a robust nationwide strategic defense posture, as proposed by President Reagan on March 23, 1983. To provide insight into the policy issues surrounding the transition, the authors develop an analytic format based on ballistic missile "defense potential." The defense potential format demonstrates that, if highly survivable strategic defenses were deployed as an adjunct to current superpower ballistic missile forces, the United States could make the transition to the President's goal of assured survival from ballistic missile attack without having to pass through a period during which either the United States or the Soviet Union would have great incentive to launch a first strike against the other. However, if the defenses are vulnerable to attack and/or if both superpowers continue to deploy weapons capable of destroying hard targets but fail to adopt corresponding offensive force survivability measures, a stable transition would become less likely."--Rand abstracts.

This book of ten original essays provides a showcase of currently diverse theoretical agendas in the field of international relations. Contributors address the theoretical analysis that their perspective brings to the issue of change in global politics. Written for readers with a general interest in and knowledge of world affairs, New Thinking in International Relations Theory can also be assigned in international relations theory courses.The volume begins with an essay on the classical tradition at the end of the Cold War. Essays explore work outside the mainstream, such as Jean Bethke Elshtain on feminist theory and James Der Derian on postmodern theory as well as those developing theoretical advances within traditional realms from James DeNardo's formal modeling to the more descriptive analyses of Miles Kahler and Steve Weber. Other essays include Matthew Evangelista on domestics structure, Daniel Deudney on naturalist and geopolitical theory, and Joseph Grieco on international structuralist theory.

Hughes presents a comprehensive view of European attitudes toward the controversial Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Discusses major issues raised by Europeans, analyses arguments, and examines the often voiced European objection that SDI might encourage war fighting rather than maintain deterrence. Also illuminates the new threat posed by missiles in the hands of more nations that will possess them by the mid-1990s. Concludes by discussing the possibility that the Soviets in particular may find such defenses to be in their own interest.

Examines the value of deploying strategic missile defences to counter the threat of nuclear accidents. It concludes that the deployment of strategic defences in the 1990s will not be strategically desirable, technically feasible, or economically affordable.

Contents:Opening Session (A Zichichi, T D Lee, D R Scott & R G Will)AIDS and Infectious Diseases — Medication or Vaccination for Developing Countries (G Gray, P Van De Perre, G Biberfeld, A A Lindberg, M Klein & G De Thé)Missile Proliferation and Defense (A Piontovsky, G H Canavan, R K Huber & V J Sundaram)Tchernobyl — Mathematics and Democracy (V Kukhar & Z R Rudzikas)Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (D Heim, H Budka & A Smith)Floods and Extreme Weather Events — Coastal Zone Problems (D Scavia, D Dorogan, D Danut, D Boesch & P M Douglas)Science and Technology for Developing Countries (H Alper, G Knies, T J Gilmartin, W A Barletta & D W Mulenex)Water — Transboundary Water Conflicts (A T Wolf, K C Sivaramakrishnan, D S Brookshire, J Chermak & M Ewers)Climatic Changes — Global Monitoring of the Planet (G Marland, T Boden, K Gurney, J Orear, B L Myers, E Teller, C Leith, G Canavan & L Wood)Information Security (A Lehman, A Kroutskikh, D S Chereshkin & T L Thomas)Pollution in the Caspian Sea (I Salihoglu, H Ghaffarzadeh, E Özsoy, I V Mitrofanov, A Vasiliev & R Ajalov)Permament Monitoring Panel Reports (S Sorooshian, R A Clark, G De Thé, J M Greenberg, W F Huebner, A Piontovsky, H Wegener, R C Ragaini, V P Kukhar, G I Palshin, H Schubert & W Sprigg)Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Workshop (P Piccardo, B Ghetti, F Tagliavini, O Bugiani & R G Will)AIDS and Infectious Diseases Workshop (G Biberfeld, A A Lindbergh & S Tlou)Pollution Workshop (R Ragaini, I Salihoglu, H Ghaffarzadeh, L Shabanova, E Özsoy, Y N Zhimbey, I V Mitrofanov, R Ajalov, A Korshenko & A Vasiliev) Readership: AIDS researchers, immunologists, ecologists, meteorologists, physicists and social scientists. Keywords:

http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/5043

"Lieutenant General Glenn A. Kent was a uniquely acute analyst and developer of American defense policy in the second half of the twentieth century. His 33-year career in the Air Force was followed by more than 20 years as one of the leading analysts at RAND. This volume is not a memoir in the normal sense but rather a summary of the dozens of national security issues in which Glenn was personally engaged over the course of his career. These issues included creating the single integrated operational plan (SIOP), leading DoD's official assessment of strategic defenses in the 1960s, developing and analyzing strategic nuclear arms control agreements, helping to bring new weapon systems to life, and many others. Each vignette describes the analytical frameworks and, where appropriate, the mathematical formulas and charts that Glenn developed and applied to gain insights into the issue at hand. The author also relates his roles in much of the bureaucratic pulling and hauling that occurred as issues were addressed within the government." -- publisher's website.