ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses the deleterious impact of ethnocentrism on some theoretical aspects of the subject. It also discusses the record of misperception and misconception which is the best indicator of the importance and pervasiveness of the problem. Strategic doctrine is the mode of survival of a society. The US-Soviet confrontation has been the central feature of post-war strategy. It has been significantly affected by ethnocentric perceptions. Both nations assumed an implicit and centrally directed enemy. If Anglo-American theorists caused difficulties with ostensible allies such as the French, it was only to be expected that it would cause difficulties with an adversary such as the Soviet Union. It was generally taken for granted by Anglo-American theorists that Soviet strategists did not properly understand the nature of deterrence. The active and passive attempts by the US Navy to track Soviet ballistic-missile-firing submarines (SSBNs) have been regarded as properly prudent and not undermining deterrence.
