ABSTRACT
The US-U.S.S.R. Joint Statement, which outlined the purpose of Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) II, agreed that negotiations after START I would: seek to reduce their strategic offensive arms in a way consistent with enhancing strategic stability. The end of the Cold War has brought to the surface fundamental disagreement among Western and Soviet experts over the appropriate future role of nuclear weapons. Unlike the abstract debates over nuclear strategy of the last three decades, where fundamental change in nuclear forces was precluded by a frozen geopolitical environment, the 1990s may witness significant change in nuclear postures and strategy in several countries. The range of nuclear forces that could be deployed in the early 21st century has never been larger. Internal reform and geopolitical retrenchment in the U.S.S.R. have meant that Soviet nuclear doctrines and force structures have outlasted the context in which they evolved. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
