Buy used:

$249.77

FREE delivery Monday, March 28

Or fastest delivery Friday, March 25. Order within 8 hrs 24 mins

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Bonsai Trades

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Colin S. Gray

Weapons Don't Make War: Policy, Strategy, and Military Technology (Modern War Studies) Hardcover – January 1, 1993

by Colin S. Gray (Author)

2 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$249.77

—

$133.99

Hardcover
$249.77

5 Used from $133.99 1 Collectible from $695.00

"Weaponry does not equal strategy, argues Colin Gray, but the two are often confused, resulting in such linguistic errors as "strategic weapons." There may be an interactive relationship between policy, strategy, and weaponry but, he contends, policy and strategy always take the front seat.

An established scholar in strategic studies and longtime analyst of the U.S. defense establishment, Gray presents in Weapons Don't Make War a powerful statement on the interrelations among policymaking, strategic planning, and military technology.

He argues that policy shapes strategy and gives meaning to weapons (not vice versa): that, without clear policy guidance, the weapons acquisitions process degenerates into political arm-wrestling; that military technology is only one of the many servants of defense policy (and by no means the most important); that the "arms race" concept creates more confusion than clarity in studying international security; that the pursuit of arms control is seriously flawed by the belief that international conflict can be reduced to a problem of administration and management; that uncertainty is an essential condition of--not simply a problem for--defense policy; and that nuclear-age history confirm much of the accepted wisdom of modern strategic theory.

Always provocative and sometimes controversial, Gray provides a rare, detailed, and multi-angled examination of just how policy and weapons influence--or fail to influence--each other. His arguments in Weapons Don't Make War are not time bound; they hold regardless of the evolution of eastern Europe or of shifts in U.S. policy and strategy. They offer insight into "the basics" of national security not only in the post-Cold War era, but for all time.

This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Colin Gray's voice is one of the most penetrating in contemporary strategic studies..." -- Journal of Strategic Studies

From the Back Cover

"A probing discussion of some of the most important questions of the relationships between military force and foreign policy. As we move into an increasingly complex era, we will need to think clearly and creatively about these matters. Whether one agrees with Gray's conclusions, this book will clarify as well as stimulate our thinking."--Robert Jervis, author of The Meaning of Nuclear Revolution: Statecraft and the Prospect of Armageddon

"Colin Gray has established himself as a unique commentator on the current strategic scene. He is a strategic thinker who, as Clausewitz suggests, keeps himself firmly grounded in the laboratory of history. What he has to say is of real relevance to policymakers, academics, and those concerned with where American defense policy must go in the new emerging world."--Williamson Murray, author of German Military Effectiveness

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ Pr of Kansas (January 1, 1993)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0700605592
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0700605590
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,255,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #129,286 in Engineering (Books)
- #183,106 in Politics & Government (Books)
- #518,621 in History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
2 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Colin S. Gray

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

5 star		100%
4 star 0% (0%)		0%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top review from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Allan Blackwell

Thomas Schelling, call your office

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2008

Verified Purchase

Ever since the above-mentioned and brilliant man had his insight on a park bench that, since hostile parties had weapons, reducing them reduced the chances of war, we have been subjected to endless squeamishness about the presence of, say, nuclear weapons, while regarding it somehow as bad taste to judge the actors who held them. The action-reaction understanding of arms races has kept reliably wrong commentators like James Carroll scribbling for decades. Gray proves very satisfyingly that Schelling, whose work was used and misused throughout the 1960s, in this instance eloquent but flat wrong.

This is best read, if you can find a copy, alongside HOUSE OF CARDS: WHY ARMS CONTROL MUST FAIL. Both works are howlingly relevant today.

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Weapons Don't Make War: Policy, Strategy, and Military Technology (Modern War Studies) Hardcover – January 1, 1993

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Colin S. Gray

Customer reviews

Top review from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.