Book Review: Military and Scientific Affairs: Limited War in the Nuclear Age
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900116 |
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| Author | J. C. Arnell |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REviEws
91
Mr.
Levine's
book
can
prove
extremely
useful
to
students
of
Western
disarmament
policies.
Students
of
East-West
strategy
and
disarmament
negotiations
can
find
in
it
much-needed
and
important
background
material,
amassed
in
one
readable
volume.
Mr.
Levine
distinguishes
five
American
schools
of
thought
which
he
arrays
in
a
continuum
ranging from
those
who
advocate
drastic
anti-war
policies
to those
who
make
extremist
anti-communist
recom-
mendations.
Three
"marginal"
groups
are
descernible
in
the
middle
ground:
the
marginal
anti-war group
(comprising
among
others
J.
Weisner
and
W.
Lippmann); the
marginal
anti-communist
group
(R.
Strausz-Hup4,
W.
Kintner
and
J.
Dougherty);
and
the
middle-marginal
school.
Mr.
Levine
remarks
that
"of
those
who
actually
make
the
decisions
on American
arms
policy
or
who
make
their
recommendations
from
within the
decision
making
apparatus,
the
majority
are
probably
middle
marginalists".
This
important
group
believes
that
the
chance
of
war
deters
war,
and
that
to
reduce
this
chance can
actually
encourage
war.
For
it,
safety
lies
neither
in
no
deterrence
nor
in
all-out
deterrence
but
somewhere
in
between.
Much
light
is
thus
shed
on
the
differences
and
similarities
of
various
United
States arms
policy schools
which
make
up
the arms
debate.
At
the
same
time
the student
of
disarmament
can
glean
valuable
information
about
what
United
States
"middle-marginalists"-
from
their
decision-making
apparatus-think
about
deterrence,
counter-force,
counter-city,
first
and
second
strike,
pre-emptive
attack,
and other
relevant
theories
as
well
as
about
war,
the
opponent, power,
neutrals
and
about
Americans.
This
originally-conceived
book
also
affords, especially
in
its
latter
chapters,
a
wealth
of
highly
synthesized
and
analytical
reviews
of
much
of
the
most
important thinking
and
writing
on
the
subject
of
United
States
arms
policy.
In this
respect
it
fulfils
a
much-needed
task
both
intelligently
and
objectively.
Ministry
of
Foreign
Affairs,
Cairo
N.
SAImR
AHmD
LIME
WAR
IN
THE
NuCLEAR
AGE.
By
Morton
H.
Halperin.
1963.
(London:
New
York:
John
Wiley. ix,
191pp.
Cloth Bound.
$4.95.
Paper
Bound
$2.95)
This
book
attempts
to
analyse
the
likely
shape of
a
future
war,
while
recognizing
the
force
of
arms
that
are
arrayed
by
the
protagon-
ists.
The
theme
is
found in
the
opening
sentence
of
the Preface,
viz.,
"the
development of
nuclear
weapons
and
intercontinental
missiles
has
ushered
in
an era
in
which
nations
possess
the
power to
destroy
each
other
completely
but
in
which
they
have
not
devised
a
way
of elimi-
nating
violence
as
the
ultimate
means
of
settling
international
disputes."
"Limited
war"
for
purposes
of
the
study is
defined
as
"a
military
encounter
in
which
the
Soviet Union
and
the
United
States
see
each
other
on
opposing sides
and
in
which
the
effort
of
each
falls
short
of
the
attempt
to
use
all
of
its
power
to
destroy
the
other".
This
offers
a
very
wide
scope
to
Mr.
Halperin's
considerations,
as
it
permits
him
to
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