Front Cover: Enemies of the Mexican People, by Juan O'Gorman

Source: Nissani, M. (1992). Lives in the Balance: the Cold War and American Politics, 1945-1991.

Note: Page numbers refer to the hard copy version of this book, not to this online version.

Publication Data

Motto

Preface

Backcover

Chapter 1 TOTALITARIANISM 1

• What is Freedom? 2
• Life in a Dictatorship 6
• The Nature of Totalitarianism 7
• The Soviet Union: 1917-1984 9
• Totalitarian Foreign Policies 23 (Soviet Foreign Policies: 1917-1984 /  China and Tibet: 1950-1991 /  Sparta and the City States of Ancient Greece)
• The Soviet Union, 1985-1991: End of an Era 31
• The Myth of Authoritarian Efficiency 36
• Summary 39

Chapter 2 CONSEQUENCES OF NUCLEAR WAR 42

• Types of Nuclear Bombs 42
• Effects of a Single Nuclear Explosion 44 (Ultraviolet Pulse  /  Electromagnetic Pulse  /  Heat  /  Blast  /  Ionizing Radiation  /  Hiroshima)
• Effects of a Large Nuclear Explosion 54
• Effects of a Limited Nuclear War 57
• Consequences of Nuclear War 57 (Direct Consequences  /  Indirect Consequences)
• Reality of Nuclear Peril 69
• Summary 76

Chapter 3 COSTS OF THE ARMS RACE 78

• Military Costs 78
• Conventional Wars 81
• Economic and Human Costs 82
• Environmental Costs 84
• Moral and Psychological Costs 86
• Militarism, Imperialism, and Plutodemocracy 86
• The Arms Race or Totalitarianism? 89
• Summary 90

Chapter 4 WEAPONS OF THE COLD WAR 92

• A Note on Military Jargon 92
• Conventional Weapons 93
• Chemical and Biological Weapons 94
• Nuclear Bombs 95
• Delivery Vehicles 95 (Bombers and Cruise Missiles  /  Ballistic Missiles )
• Strategic Requirements of Nuclear Weapons and Delivery Vehicles 97
• Command, Control, and Communication 98
• Satellites 99
• Summary 100

Chapter 5 STRATEGIC THINKING IN THE UNITED STATES 102

• Two Interpretations of Western Military and Foreign Policies 102 (Deterrence  /  Brinkmanship)
• Victory in the 1980s? 108
• Future Victory? 109
• New Nuclear Weapons? 113
• A Window of Vulnerability? 115
• Launch Under Attack? 118
• Nuclear Retaliation? 119
• Concluding Remarks 120
• Summary 121

Chapter 6 THE MILITARY BALANCE 123

• Overkill 123
• A Note on the Reliability of Data 126
• The Nuclear Balance 129 (Number of Deliverable Nuclear Bombs /  Explosive Yield  /  Survivability of Nuclear Weapons  /  Defensive Measures  /  The Overall Nuclear Balance )
• The Conventional Balance 137 (Standing Armies and Ground Forces  /  Airplanes  /  Tanks  /  Navies  / Interventionary Forces )
• Other Factors Affecting the Military Balance 142 (Technology  /  National Economies  /  Democracy  /  Allies  /  Internal Dissension  /  Homeland Invasion  /  Organizational Inefficiencies  /  Additional Soviet Advantages)
• Concluding Remarks 152
• Summary 152

Chapter 7 HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR 155

• Peace or War? 156
• Atomic Secrecy 167
• The Baruch Plan 169
• Developing the H-Bomb 171
• The Moment of Hope: May 10, 1955 172
• The Comprehensive Test Ban 174
• The 1980s 178
• General Characteristics of the Arms Race 185
• Summary 193

Chapter 8 BRINKMANSHIP AND IMPERIALISM? 195

• Nuclear Diplomacy 195
• American Intervention in the Third World 202 American Nuclear and Third World
• Policies: An Appraisal 218
• Summary 221

Chapter 9 ROOTS OF COLLECTIVE MISBEHAVIOR 223

• Organizational Characteristics 225 (Organizational Callousness  /  Organizational Self-Destructiveness  /  Institutional Decay  /  Institutional Rigidity  /  Institutional Inertia  /  Money and Politics  /  Revolving Doors  / Elections and Officials)
• Information 243 (Corporate Media  /  Government  /  Experts  /  Education)
• Human Characteristics 257 (Individual Callousness  /  Indoctrinability  /  Conceptual Conservatism  /  Conformity /  Obedience to Authority  /  Other Human Failings)
• Summary 271

Chapter 10 A SURGICAL REFORM STRATEGY 273

• Has Humanity a Future? 273
• Successful Reform Presupposes
• an Informed Public 275
• Forlorn Strategies 275
• A Surgical Reform Strategy 278
• Summary 283

Notes and References 284

Index 309