Strategic Defense Initiative

Intended for use as a text in courses on national security, arms control, and peace studies, this collection of statements by world leaders and eminent scholars offers an accurate and comprehensive guide through the maze of claims and criticisms about "Star Wars," the sensationally controversial effort of the Reagan administration to reorient U.S. nuclear strategy to strategic defense. The contents include a thorough introduction by the editors and individual chapters outlining the strategic defense initiative as originally conceived and subsequently modified by the Reagan administration; the arguments for and against the plan's strategic and technical feasibility; and assessments of the harmful and constructive effects of strategic defense on U.S.-Soviet and U.S.-allied relations.