2001 Articles
Was the Cold War a Security Dilemma?
Under the security dilemma, tensions and conflicts can arise between states even when they do not intend them. Some analysts have argued that the Cold War was a classic example of a security dilemma. This article disputes that notion. Although the Cold War contained elements of a deep security dilemma, it was not purely a case in which tensions and arms increased as each side defensively reacted to the other. The root of the conflict was a clash of social systems and of ideological preferences for ordering the world. Mutual security in those circumstances was largely unachievable. A true end to the Cold War was impossible until fundamental changes occurred in Soviet foreign policy.
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Jervis2001CWSecDil.pdf application/pdf 269 KB Download File
Also Published In
- Title
- Journal of Cold War Studies
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1162/15203970151032146
More About This Work
- Academic Units
- Political Science
- Published Here
- March 5, 2015