Given the profound changes in international politics over the past several years, nuclear strategy clearly needs rethinking. Toward a Nuclear Peace analyzes the future of nuclear weapons in the defense policy of the United States and the European nuclear powers. The first part of the book, U.S. nuclear policy, considers the benefits and risks of further nuclear arms control and proposes specific recommendations for force structure, targeting, and strategic defense to enhance regional deterrence. The second part, European nuclear policy, discusses the future of nuclear weapons from the British, French, and Russian perspectives. Toward a Nuclear Peace provides a most valuable service, filling a critical gap in current thinking by outlining both a short- and long-term future for nuclear forces.

pt. I. United States Nuclear Policy / Nuclear Strategy Study Group. 1. The Future of Arms Control. 2. The Case for Further Progress. 3. How Much Is Enough? 4. Deterrence in Europe. 5. Regional Deterrence. 6. Strategic Defenses. 7. Nuclear End States -- Appendix 1: First-Strike Survivability and Defense Penetration / Steve Fetter -- Appendix 2: Military Targets for a Minimum Deterrent: After the Cold War, How Much Is Enough? / Michael J. Mazarr -- pt. II. European Nuclear Forces. 8. Britain, Nuclear Weapons, and the Future of Arms Control / Lawrence Freedman. 9. French Nuclear Policy: Adapting the Gaullist Legacy to the Post-Cold War World / Edward A. Kolodziej. 10. Russian Views of Nuclear Weapons / Sergei Rogov.