Deterrence remains a primary doctrine for dealing with the threat of nuclear weapons in the 21st century. In this book, the author calls for a renewed intellectual effort to address the relevance of the traditional concepts of first strike, escalation, extended deterrence, and other Cold War-era strategies in today's complex world of additional superpowers (e.g., China), smaller nuclear powers (e.g., Pakistan and North Korea), and non-state actors (e.g., terrorists), as well as the extension of defense and security analysis to new domains, such as outer space and cyberspace. The author draws upon the lessons of the bipolar Cold War era to illustrate new concepts of deterrence that properly account for the variety of nuclear actors, the proliferation of missiles and thermonuclear weapons, and the radical ideologies that all are part of the nuclear scene today. .

Introduction -- Why is this subject important? -- Concepts -- Lessons from crises -- The age of small powers -- Ahead of us: the big piracy game? -- Space and cyberdeterrence -- Conclusion.