Soviet Strategy and the New Military Thinking

This book, first published in 1991, analyses the unprecedented changes, as well as the troubling continuities, that characterized Soviet military thinking during the early 1990s.

Derek Leebaert (Edited by), Timothy Dickinson (Edited by)

9780521407694, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 December 1991

300 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.561 kg

The Soviet Union remains a superpower with global security interests and ambitions. The doctrines, practices, and capabilities of its still formidable armed forces are shaping world politics just at the same time that the future of the country that created them is in doubt. This book, first published in 1991, analyses the unprecedented changes, as well as the troubling continuities, that characterized Soviet military thinking during the early 1990s. The authors - a group of leading analysts in the US national security community - confront the range of Soviet military strengths, including intercontinental nuclear power, conventional ground, and naval forces and special operations. They address questions of Soviet weapons research and development, military planning and policy making, and the role of civilian critics on Soviet military objectives. Other chapters explore the Red Army's erosion in Eastern Europe as well as the lessons of Afghanistan.

1. The stakes of power Derek Leebaert
2. Soviet nuclear strategy: objective conditions and strategic culture Colin Gray
3. Mutual security and the future of strategic arms limitation Raymond L. Garthoff
4. Soviet theater forces on a descending path Edward B. Atkeson
5. Military doctrine and the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact Christopher Jones
6. Soviet naval strategy: past as prologue Gael Donelan Tarleton
7. Counter-insurgency and the lessons of Afghanistan David Isby
8. Research and development of new weapons Mikhail Tsypkin
9. Civilian analysis and Soviet military policy Benjamin S. Lambeth
10. Soviet military foresight and forecasting Jacob Kipp.

Subject Areas: Defence strategy, planning & research [JWK]