Download or read book Utilizing Strategic Culture as a Tool to Tailor U S Deterrence Policy Towards Iran written by Ryan Preston Taylor and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The geostrategic environment since the end of the Cold War has drastically changed the way United States (U.S.) policymakers develop strategies to combat a wide range of hostile threats facing the country, especially in the field of the deterrence of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Iran is such an actor, who poses one of the greater proliferation threats in the world and continues to commit hostile actions in the Middle East. In this post-Cold War environment, it is imperative that the United States develop a tailored deterrence strategy to meet this challenge. Past deterrence strategies popular during the bipolar era of the Cold War focused on the idea of a “rational actor,” one in which an adversary theoretically would similarly make decisions to how U.S. leadership thinks about the values of a cost-benefit analysis of any strategic action. However, with the emergence of new and asymmetric threats, it has become apparent that not all actors in the world think in the same way as U.S. leaders. Starting in the Cold War era, the concept of strategic culture emerged, which sought to understand the cultural drivers behind state behavior. Strategic culture is a field of research which gives insight into another culture, and how their values, norms, and perceptions shape the way that they view rational decision making on a cost-benefit analysis. This field of study can provide explanations for decisions that others might make; how/when to go to war, what constitutes the rationality to pursue or use WMDs, and what values they hold which are exploitable. By using strategic culture as a tool to tailor a deterrence strategy, the United States will be better able to formulate policy to contain, deter, and defeat adversaries. This report will use the Islamic Republic of Iran as a case study to present its threat to U.S. strategic objectives, explain how strategic culture can be used to understand threats from Iran, and then assess its strategic culture to use in the formulation of a tailored deterrence policy against the Islamic Republic.

Download or read book Strategic Culture and Weapons of Mass Destruction written by K. Kartchner and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-01-05 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes strategic culture and its value as a methodological approach to the study of International Relations. In particular, the book uses strategic culture to illuminate a number of case studies on countries that have made decisions regarding the acquisition, proliferation or use of weapons of mass destruction.

Download or read book Tailored Deterrence written by Barry R. Schneider and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Iran s Strategic Culture And Weapons of Mass Destruction written by Anthony C. Cain and published by . This book was released on 2004-05-02 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the relationship between Iran's strategic culture and weapons of mass destruction. Analyzes the relationship between the U.S. and Iran since 1979. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, foreign policy experts had trouble comprehending Ayatollah Khomeini's Shi'i ideology and reacted with alarm when he acted to export his ideology to other Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, the U.S. focused on containing Iran until a regime change occurred. Since the election of Seyyed Mohammed Khatami to the presidency in 1997, signs from Iran point to possibilities for altering the tension between the two states. Analyzes options available to U.S. policy makers to help Iran's transition from pariah state toward a more moderate role in the Persian Gulf.

Download or read book Iran s Strategic Culture and Weapons of Mass Destruction written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Discerning Iran s Nuclear Strategy written by Frederick R. Strain and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unable to forge a world consensus against the potential dangers of a nuclear armed Iran, US policy makers must prepare for the inevitable. The development of successful US policy with regards to this issue demands an appreciation of Iran's potential nuclear strategy. Does Iran view nuclear weapons as tools of coercion, useful deterrents, or the ultimate survival guarantee for Shi'ism and Persian culture? Key to speculation about potential strategies is first discerning what motivates Iran's nuclear aspirations, the influences of what Colin Gray calls the "strategic culture," and speculation on the rationality of Iran's policy process. The evidence suggests Iran is perhaps more rational with regards to strategy development than generally believed if we view decisions in terms of the Iranian experience and key influences on decision makers. It seems likely Iran intends to use nuclear weapons as deterrents to further US and Israeli action in the region, while at the same time enhancing its prestige. US policy based on traditional deterrence theory may apply with respect to countering Iran's eventual nuclear capability.

Download or read book Iran s Strategic Culture and Weapons of Mass Destruction written by Anthony Christopher Cain and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Strategic Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran written by Michael Eisenstadt and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is an unconventional adversary that requires unconventional approaches to planning, strategy, and policy. These approaches must take into account the country's sophisticated culture, the regime's religious-ideological orientation, the abiding importance of Iranian nationalism, and Iran's modern military history. And they must recognize the IRI's unique approach to statecraft, strategy, and the use of force. Doing so is no easy task for Americans, as the United States and Iran are studies in opposites when it comes to culture, values, and politics ... These factors complicate efforts to understand Tehran's behavior and to formulate effective policies toward the Islamic Republic. Iran's political system, moreover, is unique in that it is characterized by parallel structures that are the locus of multiple power centers. These consist of both traditional state and revolutionary institutions: the President and Supreme Leader; the Majles and Guardian Council; the Judiciary and Special Clerical Courts; and the regular military and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), with the former often counterbalanced, and sometimes undermined by the actions of the latter. This organizational complexity and the importance of informal influence networks also often renders the functioning of the regime opaque -- even to many of its own members -- making it especially difficult for outsiders to understand what is going on. Finally, planners and policymakers dealing with the IRI should keep in mind three generalizations that can be said of a number of countries, but which are especially true for the Islamic Republic: [1] Nothing in Iran is as it seems; things are often to the contrary ... [2] Nothing in Iran is black and white; ambiguity and shades of grey rule ... [3] Iranian politics are characterized by numerous contradictions and paradoxes ... With these caveats in mind, this monograph will attempt to identify the salient features of the IRI's strategic culture, and their implications for planning, strategy, and policy"--Introduction.

Download or read book The Paradox of Power written by David C. Gompert and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2020 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second half of the 20th century featured a strategic competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. That competition avoided World War III in part because during the 1950s, scholars like Henry Kissinger, Thomas Schelling, Herman Kahn, and Albert Wohlstetter analyzed the fundamental nature of nuclear deterrence. Decades of arms control negotiations reinforced these early notions of stability and created a mutual understanding that allowed U.S.-Soviet competition to proceed without armed conflict. The first half of the 21st century will be dominated by the relationship between the United States and China. That relationship is likely to contain elements of both cooperation and competition. Territorial disputes such as those over Taiwan and the South China Sea will be an important feature of this competition, but both are traditional disputes, and traditional solutions suggest themselves. A more difficult set of issues relates to U.S.-Chinese competition and cooperation in three domains in which real strategic harm can be inflicted in the current era: nuclear, space, and cyber. Just as a clearer understanding of the fundamental principles of nuclear deterrence maintained adequate stability during the Cold War, a clearer understanding of the characteristics of these three domains can provide the underpinnings of strategic stability between the United States and China in the decades ahead. That is what this book is about.

Download or read book Thinking about Deterrence written by Air Univeristy Press and published by Military Bookshop. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With many scholars and analysts questioning the relevance of deterrence as a valid strategic concept, this volume moves beyond Cold War nuclear deterrence to show the many ways in which deterrence is applicable to contemporary security. It examines the possibility of applying deterrence theory and practice to space, to cyberspace, and against non-state actors. It also examines the role of nuclear deterrence in the twenty-first century and reaches surprising conclusions.

Download or read book Irregular Enemies and the Essence of Strategy written by Colin S. Gray and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author offers a detailed comparison between the character of irregular warfare, insurgency in particular, and the principal enduring features of "the American way." He concludes that there is a serious mismatch between that "way" and the kind of behavior that is most effective in countering irregular foes. The author poses the question, Can the American way of war adapt to a strategic threat context dominated by irregular enemies? He suggests that the answer is "perhaps, but only with difficulty."

Download or read book Crossing Nuclear Thresholds written by Jeannie L. Johnson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-04-25 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ​This book applies the cutting-edge socio-cultural model Cultural Topography Analytic Framework (CTAF) pioneered in the authors’ earlier volume Strategic Culture and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Culturally Based Insights into Comparative National Security Policymaking (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) with an eye towards isolating those vectors of nuclear decision-making on which the US might exert influence within a foreign state. The case studies included in this volume tackle a number of the nuclear challenges—termed “nuclear thresholds”—likely to be faced by the US and identify the most promising points of leverage available to American policymakers in ameliorating a wide range of over-the-horizon nuclear challenges. Because near and medium-term nuclear thresholds are likely to involve both allies and adversaries simultaneously, meaning that US response will require strategies tailored to both the perception of threat experienced by the actors in question, the value the actors place on their relationship with the US, and the domestic context driving decision-making. This volume offers a nuanced look at each actor’s identity, national norms, values, and perceptual lens in order to offer culturally-focused insights into behavior and intentions.

Download or read book Making Strategy written by Dennis M. Drew and published by . This book was released on 2002-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National secuirty strategy is a vast subject involving a daunting array of interrelated subelements woven in intricate, sometimes vague, and ever-changing patterns. Its processes are often irregular and confusing and are always based on difficult decisions laden with serious risks. In short, it is a subject understood by few and confusing to most. It is, at the same time, a subject of overwhelming importance to the fate of the United States and civilization itself. Col. Dennis M. Drew and Dr. Donald M. Snow have done a considerable service by drawing together many of the diverse threads of national security strategy into a coherent whole. They consider political and military strategy elements as part of a larger decisionmaking process influenced by economic, technological, cultural, and historical factors. I know of no other recent volume that addresses the entire national security milieu in such a logical manner and yet also manages to address current concerns so thoroughly. It is equally remarkable that they have addressed so many contentious problems in such an evenhanded manner. Although the title suggests that this is an introductory volume - and it is - I am convinced that experienced practitioners in the field of national security strategy would benefit greatly from a close examination of this excellent book. Sidney J. Wise Colonel, United States Air Force Commander, Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education

Download or read book Containing Iran written by Robert J. Reardon and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2012-09-27 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iran's nuclear program is one of this century's principal foreign policy challenges. Despite U.S., Israeli, and allied efforts, Iran has an extensive enrichment program and likely has the technical capacity to produce at least one nuclear bomb if it so chose. This study assesses U.S. policy options, identifies a way forward, and considers how the United States might best mitigate the negative international effects of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Download or read book Japan s Decision For War In 1941 Some Enduring Lessons written by Dr. Jeffrey Record and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan’s decision to attack the United States in 1941 is widely regarded as irrational to the point of suicidal. How could Japan hope to survive a war with, much less defeat, an enemy possessing an invulnerable homeland and an industrial base 10 times that of Japan? The Pacific War was one that Japan was always going to lose, so how does one explain Tokyo’s decision? Did the Japanese recognize the odds against them? Did they have a concept of victory, or at least of avoiding defeat? Or did the Japanese prefer a lost war to an unacceptable peace? Dr. Jeffrey Record takes a fresh look at Japan’s decision for war, and concludes that it was dictated by Japanese pride and the threatened economic destruction of Japan by the United States. He believes that Japanese aggression in East Asia was the root cause of the Pacific War, but argues that the road to war in 1941 was built on American as well as Japanese miscalculations and that both sides suffered from cultural ignorance and racial arrogance. Record finds that the Americans underestimated the role of fear and honor in Japanese calculations and overestimated the effectiveness of economic sanctions as a deterrent to war, whereas the Japanese underestimated the cohesion and resolve of an aroused American society and overestimated their own martial prowess as a means of defeating U.S. material superiority. He believes that the failure of deterrence was mutual, and that the descent of the United States and Japan into war contains lessons of great and continuing relevance to American foreign policy and defense decision-makers.

Download or read book The Paradox of Power written by David C. Gompert and published by Department of the Army. This book was released on 2011-12-27 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking deeply into the matter of strategic vulnerability, the authors address questions that this vulnerability poses: Do conditions exist for Sino-U.S. mutual deterrence in these realms? Might the two states agree on reciprocal restraint? What practical measures might build confidence in restraint? How would strategic restraint affect Sino-U.S. relations as well as security in and beyond East Asia?

Download or read book Conventional Deterrence written by John J. Mearsheimer and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1985-08-21 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional Deterrence is a book about the origins of war. Why do nations faced with the prospect of large-scale conventional war opt for or against an offensive strategy? John J. Mearsheimer examines a number of crises that led to major conventional wars to explain why deterrence failed. He focuses first on Allied and German decision making in the years 1939–1940, analyzing why the Allies did not strike first against Germany after declaring war and, conversely, why the Germans did attack the West. Turning to the Middle East, he examines the differences in Israeli and Egyptian strategic doctrines prior to the start of the major conventional conflicts in that region. Mearsheimer then critically assays the relative strengths and weaknesses of NATO and the Warsaw Pact to determine the prospects for conventional deterrence in any future crisis. He is also concerned with examining such relatively technical issues as the impact of precision-guided munitions (PGM) on conventional deterrence and the debate over maneuver versus attrition warfare.Mearsheimer pays considerable attention to questions of military strategy and tactics. Challenging the claim that conventional detrrence is largely a function of the numerical balance of forces, he also takes issue with the school of thought that ascribes deterrence failures to the dominance of "offensive" weaponry. In addition to examining the military consideration underlying deterrence, he also analyzes the interaction between those military factors and the broader political considerations that move a nation to war.