ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the reasons why the United States and the Soviet Union have answered the questions in different ways over time. It argues that the superpowers have undergone a form of interactive learning in arms control, whose sources and consequences are different from the kind of learning. Arms control learning is important whether or not it has affected the basic phenomena of deterrence. God may be a constant; but the practice of religion has changed over time, and these changes have had a profound impact on human society. Theories about learning identify the set of basic ideas that underlie state objectives and behavior in a given area as cognitive structure. In arms control, there are actually two tiers of cognitive structure. Soviet arms control behavior since that time reflects learning, a change in the first tier of cognitive structure. Moscow's new policies evidence a fundamental reconceptualization of the relationship between nuclear weapons, security, and power.
