The Arms Race and Arms Control: Soviet Views

There are three common ways of understanding arms races. They are either the product of mutual misperception, in that each side arms for defensive purposes, but its opponent views these measures as evidence of aggressive intent. Or one side initiates developments in an arms race, either with genuine aggressive intent or because it is compelled to do so by domestic and economic forces, and the other side responds by arming in self-defence. 1 A third view describes both sides’ arms policies as motivated by internal political, economic, and technological forces; the adversary’s actions serve only to rationalize the procurement of weapons and development of strategies desired for other reasons. 2 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.