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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until September 01, 2027

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The Revivalists: James R. Schlesinger, the Nuclear Warfighting Strategists, and Competitive Strategies for Great-Power Competition

Balzer, Kyle James
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651587730256485

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, History (Arts and Sciences).
This dissertation focuses on James R. Schlesinger and a group of strategists who advocated increasingly flexible nuclear options from the late 1950s through the end of the Cold War. It addresses two fundamental questions: Did strategic superiority matter, and were there enduring benefits to be gained from nuclear competition? In general, the first generation of nuclear scholars accept that the strategic nuclear balance was stalemated from at least the mid-1960s until the end of the Cold War. A “long peace” thus flowed naturally from such a condition. In the social sciences, the theorists of the nuclear revolution portray US nuclear strategy as illogical, counterproductive, and needlessly destabilizing. This dissertation joins the second generation of scholars who counter that strategic superiority had real meaning, the warfighting strategists pursued logical designs, and nuclear competition ultimately strengthened deterrence and the overall Western position. By developing limited nuclear options and leveraging its technological superiority against an unsophisticated adversary, the United States channeled the superpower competition into areas of asymmetric advantage. Schlesinger and his group of like-minded strategists played a leading role in this process. Together, they designed a framework of analysis for long-term competition that identified emerging areas of strategic opportunity. In the process, Schlesinger and his intellectual camp laid the foundation for the revitalization of American military power in the 1980s.
Ingo Trauschweizer (Advisor)
537 p.
History; International Relations; Military History
James R. Schlesinger; the nuclear warfighting strategists; limited nuclear options; competitive strategies; cost-imposing strategies; great-power competition; strategic analysis for long-term competition; organizational theory; organizational process models of decision-making; rational-actor modeling; intelligence

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Balzer, K. J. (2022). The Revivalists: James R. Schlesinger, the Nuclear Warfighting Strategists, and Competitive Strategies for Great-Power Competition [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651587730256485

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Balzer, Kyle. The Revivalists: James R. Schlesinger, the Nuclear Warfighting Strategists, and Competitive Strategies for Great-Power Competition. 2022. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651587730256485.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Balzer, Kyle. "The Revivalists: James R. Schlesinger, the Nuclear Warfighting Strategists, and Competitive Strategies for Great-Power Competition." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1651587730256485

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.