A Survey of Strategic Arms Control

Date of Graduation

Summer 1990

Degree

Master of Science in Defense and Strategic Studies

Department

Defense and Strategic Studies

Committee Chair

William Van Cleave

Abstract

This analysis will detail the American experience in strategic arms control as it has been conducted in the post-World War II strategic environment. No single political enterprise has so involved the large powers or lent itself to the degree of public debate that has been generated by arms control. It has often, perhaps too often, been the case that the measure of the bilateral great power relationship has been taken on the basis of strategic arms control. Due to its portents for the world order, any process so dominating this political relationship warrants special consideration. Broken into four historical periods: the "disarmament era," the "modern era,", the "SALT era," and the "Raegan/Bush era," strategic arms control will here be discussed and analyzed based on several criteria. Its history and evolution, the impact it has had on U.S. forces and force planning, its impact on strategic stability and the relative balance of power, and whether or not the various forays into arms control meet the requirements, singly or in toto, of "good" arms control will all be discussed here.

Subject Categories

Defense and Security Studies

Copyright

© Donald L Carey

Citation-only

Dissertation/Thesis

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