The state, society, and limited nuclear war
By: Eric Mlyn.
Series: SUNY series in the making of foreign policy
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 241
Subjects: Nuclear weapons -- Government policy -- United States.; Nuclear warfare -- Public opinion.; Public opinion -- United States.; Pressure groups -- United States.; United States -- Military policy.
Description: This book highlights the role that domestic politics has played in the evolution of U.S. nuclear weapon policy up to the present. Mlyn focuses on the relationship among the three levels of policy: public statements, force posture, and nuclear targeting. He shows that although state officials since 1960 maintained a policy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) in public, U.S. nuclear targeting in fact embraced Nuclear Utilization Theory (NUTS).

Because this view of using nuclear weapons to fight a limited nuclear war was unpopular with the public, however, state officials did not articulate it fully until the early 1980s. Thus, although the Reagan administration was accused of radically changing nuclear weapons policy, it was actually continuing a long trend more openly.

. Drawing on theories of the state, archives, and interviews with top defense policymakers, this book tells an important story of interest to any reader concerned with how security policy is fashioned in the United States.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p.[211]-228) and index.