Through a Glass Darkly

by Cimbala, Stephen J.

• ISBN13: 9780275971847
• ISBN10: 0275971848
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-30
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

Cimbala shows why the prevention, management, and concluding of war all require an understanding of the subjective aspects of decision making as well as the hardware and tactics of military operations. A review of past cases of U.S. security policy decision making and a preview of some future problems are combined to distill important lessons about coping with conflict in the post-Cold War world. These lessons include the awareness that some conflicts are unnecessarily provoked or prolonged on account of the gap between the perspectives and experiences of civilian policy makers and the views of the armed forces leadership. Another important lesson is that, in resolving or managing conflicts, perceptions, and expectations of leaders filter out alternatives that might have led to preferred solutions had they been attempted in good time. Of particular interest to policy makers, military professionals, and researchers involved with contemporary military issues.

Author Biography

Stephen J. Cimbala is Professor of Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University (Delaware County)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	ix
I. Past Cases	1	(76)
Bargaining at the Brink: Otherness and the Cuban Missile Crisis	3	(20)
Wilderness of Mirrors: The 1983 ``War Scare'' and U.S.--Soviet Relations	23	(30)
Operation Desert Storm: A Truncated Triumph	53	(24)
II. Present and Future Cases	77	(84)
Information Warfare and Nuclear Weapons: Back to the Future?	79	(40)
Armageddon by Osmosis: Must Nuclear Weapons Spread?	119	(20)
Small Wars and Peace Wars: Disarming the Devil	139	(22)
Conclusion	161	(32)
For Further Reading	193	(2)
Index	195