The effects of proliferation, in short, will not be uniform. That, in turn, underlines the point that strategies for combatting proliferation will have to be varied and attuned to particular cases. Although more realistic and hardheaded in its approach than much antiproliferation literature of earlier times, this volume does not indulge in the unorthodox and blithe optimism about the consequences of proliferation that became fashionable in the past decade among some theorists, such as Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer. The book is forthrightly in the mainstream of opposition to proliferation and the search for practical, policy-relevant approaches to dealing with it. That combination of strategic realism and policy orientation is the right one and rare enough that it highlights the usefulness of this collection.
Proliferation is a new priority but an old issue.
Some strategists are discovering it for the first time. So it is not surprising that to some seasoned observers, much current literature on the subject seems to reinvent the wheel. This book does not. Readers interested in fresh approaches to the problem that could, at any time, turn into the principal crisis facing American foreign policy will do well to turn to this volume.