Publisher's Synopsis
This book, the first in a two-volume set, is organized around the idea that national and international security and arms control studies are interdisciplinary fields of study. Together, the volumes give form and substance to these emerging fields. This first volume is concerned with broad analytical perspectives that are relevant to the security and arms control considerations of any national government. subfield to assist more in-depth analysis by researchers and
Volume 1 is divided into four parts. The first identifies those characteristics of the international system that condition the use of or the threat to use force. It also explores those aspects of the system that prompt the need for ways to control violence and to discipline it to the national purpose. Twelve functions of national strategic policy are covered in parts two and three. A final section reviews ways that might be used to go beyond violence or threats in coping with human conflict. Through the topics selected for inclusion, the guide attempts to define the scope of security and arms control studies as a serious field of systematic inquiry. It identifies major problems, key concepts, methods, disciplinary approaches, intellectual styles, and data sources associated with the principal subfields of the discipline. It critically reviews and evaluates the most important literature associated with each subfield to assist more in-depth analysis by researchers and policymakers.
