Inadvertent Escalation: Conventional War and Nuclear Risks

In this sobering book, Barry R. Posen demonstrates how the interplay between conventional military operations and nuclear forces could, in conflicts among states armed with both conventional and nuclear weaponry, inadvertently produce pressures for nuclear escalation. Knowledge of these hidden press...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Posen, Barry R. (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Ithaca, N.Y. Cornell University Press [2013]
Series:Cornell Studies in Security Affairs
Subjects:
Online Access:DE-859
DE-860
DE-473
DE-739
DE-1046
DE-1043
DE-858
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Summary:In this sobering book, Barry R. Posen demonstrates how the interplay between conventional military operations and nuclear forces could, in conflicts among states armed with both conventional and nuclear weaponry, inadvertently produce pressures for nuclear escalation. Knowledge of these hidden pressures, he believes, may help some future decision maker avoid catastrophe.Building a formidable argument that moves with cumulative force, he details the way in which escalation could occur not by mindless accident, or by deliberate preference for nuclear escalation, but rather as a natural accompaniment of land, naval, or air warfare at the conventional level. Posen bases his analysis on an empirical study of the east-west military competition in Europe during the 1980s, using a conceptual framework drawn from international relations theory, organization theory, and strategic theory.The lessons of his book, however, go well beyond the east-west competition. Since his observations are relevant to all military competitions between states armed with both conventional and nuclear weaponry, his book speaks to some of the problems that attend the proliferation of nuclear weapons in longstanding regional conflicts. Optimism that small and medium nuclear powers can easily achieve "stable" nuclear balances is, he believes, unwarranted
Item Description:Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed May. 17, 2017)
Physical Description:1 online resource
ISBN:9780801468384
DOI:10.7591/9780801468384

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