Abstract
The idea of non-provocative defence re-emerged into the strategic debate during the early 1980s. It is based on a distinction between offensive and defensive military capabilities, a notion that goes back to the disarmament conferences of the pre-nuclear era. It identifies offensive weapons, and the fear of being attacked that such weapons stimulate, as the core of the problem of military means. It does not share the disarmament view that weapons per se are the problem. It is closer to the arms control view that the problem is instabilities in the configuration of opposed military forces, but it rejects arms control’s acceptance of the logic that security can be found in the mutual paralysis of opposed offensive forces.
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© 1987 International Institute for Strategic Studies
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Buzan, B. (1987). Non-Provocative Defence. In: An Introduction to Strategic Studies. International Institute for Strategic Studies Conference Papers. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18796-6_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18796-6_17
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-36506-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-18796-6
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