Soviet military doctrine and Western security policy
The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed an unprecedented polarization of Western political and analytical opinion about the Soviet military and how policy should adapt to the emergence of parity between the superpowers. This study analyzes the roots of this polarization, and brings together for the first time a thorough survey of Western perceptions of Soviet military thought and doctrine, as well as of Soviet perceptions of Western military thought and doctrine. The work demonstrates how both East and West regularly makes judgements on the other's military profile on the basis of political preconceptions about the other's intentions. Western analysis of the Soviet military has not gone much beyond this unfortunate condition because most of the critical questions cannot be answered definitively with existing data and methodology. The study offers an assessment of how analysis of Soviet doctrine can be better factored into Western arms control and force posture planning.
- OSTI ID:
- 6294107
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
350100* -- Arms Control-- Policy
Negotiations
& Legislation-- (1987-)
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ARMS CONTROL
ASIA
COOPERATION
DOCUMENT TYPES
EASTERN EUROPE
EUROPE
FOREIGN POLICY
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
MILITARY STRATEGY
NATIONAL SECURITY
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
POLITICAL ASPECTS
REVIEWS
SECURITY
USA
USSR
WEAPONS
WESTERN EUROPE