Abstract
The global strategic relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, commonly referred to as the strategic balance, is fundamentally characterised by complexity, change and uncertainty. Change in the political dimension tends to be somewhat cyclical, with periods of detente and constructive dialogue interspersed with periods of tension, distrust and hostile rhetoric. With respect to the technological dimension, change has been continuous since 1945, albeit with variations in pace, direction, and net impact on strategic stability.
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Notes
See Desmond Ball, ‘Technology and Geopolitics’, in Ciro E. Zoppo and Charles Zorgbibe (eds) On Geopolitics: Chemical and Nuclear (Dordrecht, 1985) pp. 171–99.
Theodore B. Taylor, ‘Third-Generation Nuclear Weapons’, Scientific American, April 1987, pp. 22–31.
Warren Strobel, ‘U.S. To Make Nuclear Bomb That Burrows’, Washington Times, 12 September 1988;
and Tim Carrington, ‘Carlucci Orders Move for Development of “Earth-Penetrating” Nuclear Weapon’, Wall Street Journal, 13 September 1988.
President Ronald Reagan, ‘Eliminating The Threat From Ballistic Missiles’, National Security Decision Directive No. 85 (NSDD-85), 25 March 1983.
B. Byely (ed.) Marxism-Leninism on War and Army (Washington, D.C., 1974) pp. 9–10.
See Desmond Ball, ‘Soviet Strategic Planning and the Control of Nuclear War’, in Roman Kolkowicz and Ellen Propper Mickiewicz (eds), The Soviet Calculus of Nuclear War (Lexington, Massachusetts, 1986) pp. 49–67.
For fuller discussion of Soviet strategic doctrine see Benjamin S. Lambeth, ‘The Sources of Soviet Military Doctrine’, in F. B. Horton, A. C. Rogerson and E. L. Warner (eds) Comparative Defense Policy (Baltimore, 1974) pp. 200–16;
Benjamin S. Lambeth, Selective Nuclear Options in American and Soviet Strategic Policy (The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, R-2034-DDR and E, 1976);
Benjamin S. Lambeth, The Elements of Soviet Strategic Policy (The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, P-6389, 1979); and Benjamin S. Lambeth, ‘Contemporary Soviet Military Policy’, in Kolkowicz and Mickiewicz (eds) The Soviet Calculus of Nuclear War pp. 25–48.
Cited in Joseph D. Douglas, Jr and Amoretta M. Hoeber, Soviet Strategy for Nuclear War (Stanford, California, 1979) p. 36.
N. A. Lomov (ed.), Scientific-Technical Progress and the Revolution in Military Affairs (Washington, D.C., 1974) p. 147.
Stephen M. Meyer, ‘Soviet Nuclear Operations’, in Ashton B. Carter, John D. Steinbruner and Charles A. Zraket (eds), Managing Nuclear Operations (Washington, D.C., 1987) pp. 487–89;
and Kurt Gottfried and Bruce G. Blair (eds), Crisis Stability and Nuclear War (New York, 1988) pp. 128–32.
Donald MacKenzie, ‘The Soviet Union and Strategic Missile Guidance’, International Security, vol. 13, no. 2 (1988–9), p. 36.
Marc Trachtenberg, ‘The Influence of Nuclear Weapons in the Cuban Missile Crisis’, ibid., vol. 10, no. 1 (1985–6), p. 158.
See Desmond Ball, ‘The Soviet Strategic C3I System’, in Fred D. Byers (ed.) The C3I Handbook (Palo Alto, California, 1986) pp. 206–16.
US Department of Defense, Soviet Military Power: An Assessment of the Threat, 1988 (Washington, D.C., 1988) p. 46.
Ray Bonds (ed.), The Soviet War Machine (London, 1980) p. 55.
US Department of Defense, Soviet Military Power 1985, (Washington, D.C., 1985) p. 50.
Marshal A. Grecho, cited in Leon Goure, Foy D. Kohler and Mose L. Harvey, The Role of Nuclear Forces in Current Soviet Strategy (Miami, 1974) p. 107.
Colonel M. Shirokov, cited in Leon Goure and Michael J. Deane, ‘The Soviet Strategic View’, Strategic Review, vol. 8, no. 1 (1980) 81 (emphasis added).
See Joseph D. Douglass, Jr, Soviet Military Strategy in Europe (New York, 1980) p. 74.
President Ronald Reagan, National Security Strategy of the United States (Washington, D.C., 1988) p. 13.
See Desmond Ball, ‘The Development of the SIOP, 1960–1983’, in Desmond Ball and Jeffrey Richelson (eds) Strategic Nuclear Targeting (Ithaca, New York, 1986) pp. 57–83.
US Congress, Senate Armed Services Committee, Department of Defense Authorization for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1981 (Washington, D.C., 1980) Part 5, p. 2721.
Hedrick Smith, ‘Nixon and Brezhnev Close Talks With Joint Declaration of Peace’, New York Times, 30 May 1972.
George C. Wilson, ‘Weinberger Trims Reagan’s Claim’, Washington Post, 17 April 1982.
See Jeffrey T. Richelson, ‘Evaluating the Strategic Balance’, American Journal of Political Science, vol. 24, no. 4 (1980) 795–819.
Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, Department of Defense Annual Report Fiscal Year 1981 (Washington, D.C., 1980) p. 79.
See W. A. Barbieri, Countermilitary Potential: A Measure of Strategic Offensive Force Capability (The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, R-1314-PR, 1973) pp. 5–6.
US Congress, House Committee on Armed Services, Defense Policy Panel, Breakout, Verification and Force Structure: Dealing With The Full Implications of START (Washington, D.C., 1988) pp. 21–3.
See Desmond Ball, ‘Some Implications of Fifty Per Cent Reductions in Strategic Nuclear Forces for Sea-Based Systems’, in Sverre Lodgaard (ed.) Naval Arms Control (London, 1990) chapter 15.
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© 1991 Unione Scienziati per il Disarmo Convegno Internatzionale
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Ball, D. (1991). The Future of the Global Strategic Balance. In: Schaerf, C., Carlton, D. (eds) Reducing Nuclear Arsenals. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12180-9_5
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