Author Description

Product Description What are the key factors that will shape the post-Soviet military system? Leading experts assess the geostrategic context in which leaders must operate, the nature of future war, foundations of military power, dilemmas confronting a multinational military force, problems in managing a nuclear arsenal, civil-military relations, economic priorities and problems, and ethnic questions. This current evaluation of how war and the Soviet Union are being transformed is an invaluable study for students and experts in military studies, political science, and the social sciences generally. In this collection of important perspectives, Soviet military elites and influential civilian policymakers discussed what previous and present developments will require in the future. This collaborative effort examines what Moscow sees as important requirements. The study analyzes Soviet forecasting methodologies, naval developments, views about theater warfare in Europe, developments in C3I, the role of space, the Soviet military economy, mobilization regimes, Soviet views on American military thought, perspectives on the initial period of warfare and changes in operational arts. Chapter endnotes and reference lists point to major sources of Soviet scholarship. From Library Journal Any book with the word Soviet in its title now inevitably faces problems of relevancy and timeliness; this collection of articles meets the first challenge but falls short on the second. The editors, both analysts for the U.S. Army, have included the perspectives of Soviet military officials and civilian policymakers, arguing that there is continuity between Soviet and post-coup military doctrine. Topics range from military politics and reform efforts to nuclear, conventional, and naval strategies, economics, and the Gulf War. The thinking in some chapters has already been overtaken by problems within the Commonwealth of Independent States and the creatio