Much of the competition was channeled into a technological arms race which rested on the economic capacities of each bloc. In a certain way it can be said that the West's strategy inflicted costs on the Soviets, as on ourselves, and that this virtual war was a factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Technologies with military applications are proliferating to a larger number of countries than was the case during the cold war, creating new and dangerous problems. While many people have acknowledged the movement toward a multipolar world, the actual meaning of this kind of world has received little serious and sober consideration. Many of the readings are found there, along with homework assignments and answers.
Many courses examine issues of war and peace.
What is distinctive about this course is the way it integrates technology into strategy. We will use models and frameworks from fields like technology management, business integration, systems engineering, and information technology. Technology is a term employed in many different ways, both too broad and too narrow for our purposes. A missile system may be very complicated, but also very easy to use, say, compared to an air force. It could be aligned, completely congruent, or wildly mis-aligned to the strategy and organization.