ABSTRACT
First, the finding that Schelling has a ‘general’ concept of stability, illuminates the potentially widespread applicability of his strategic thinking. It underlines that Schelling was interested not only in the stability of the deterrence of general war involving nuclear weapons; the central concern of the time which preoccupied the group of strategic thinkers with which he is rightly associated. Instead, it demonstrates the importance of Schelling’s interest in other strategic situations and problems from the challenge of finding stable limits in limited war to the stability of different types of ‘arms races’, to the stability of disarmament. The general concept also highlights the importance of Schelling’s interest in a number of situations which lack a military element such as the phenomenon of ‘tipping’ between groups and other social processes.
