ABSTRACT
The rapid change that is occurring in Europe and the world at large is creating qualitatively new military and political realities, forcing nuclear powers toward major adjustments in their foreign policy and military-technological thinking. It is well known that the Soviet Union in its public declarations, including those made at the highest political level, has been strongly critical of the doctrine of deterrence. An unbiased historical analysis of the postwar period also demonstrates that military competition between the United States in the nuclear field followed a pattern of "action-reaction," the constraining factors being primarily financial and technological rather than moral. Some Western analysts argue that public acceptance by the Soviet Union of the doctrine of nuclear deterrence would contribute to mutual understanding, strengthen the Soviet Union's credibility in the eyes of the West, and bring closer to agreements on radical cuts in nuclear arms.
