The State of Western Research on Soviet Military Strategy and Policy.

Abstract

This Note reviews Western research on Soviet military thought, with special emphasis on Soviet doctrine and its impact on Soviet force planning and behavior. It traces the evolution of the field since the 1950s; examines the ongoing debate over major issues regarding the Soviet military challenge; discusses problems of evidence and interpretation as they apply to Soviet military research; and suggests new directions for the field. It is the overall character of the Soviet threat, not Soviet doctrine in isolation, that inspires the most heated contention in the current national security debate. Although some of this contention revolves about legitimate differences over the meaning of ambiguous data, it stems for the most part from conflicting a priori assumptions about the Soviet Union. Key words include: Military strategy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA150265

Entities

People

  • B. S. Lambeth

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Arms Control
  • Day
  • Doctrine
  • Foreign Policy
  • International Security
  • Military Doctrine
  • Military Planning
  • Military Science
  • Military Strategy
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Risk
  • Training
  • United States
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Strategic Security Studies