Without Warning: A Study In Asymmetric Threat Assessment

Without Warning: A Study In Asymmetric Threat Assessment

In the last century, competition among the global powers has relied heavily upon the concept of war threat assessment. However, the ways in which these powers define security have differed among them, leading in some instances to miscommunication, conflict, and even war. In Without Warning , accomplished scholar Mikhail Alexseev compares the intelligence priorities of principal decision makers in such various parts of the world as the Mongol Empire and Sung China (1206-1220), Great Britain and France (1783-1800), and the USA and the Soviet Union (1975-1991). In his analysis Alexseev reveals that while the leading powers see security primarily in military and economic terms, their challengers focus primarily on political vulnerabilities. As a result, Alexseev asserts, the world powers have consistently failed to detect or deter aggressive challenges. A sharp, deciphering look at the interactions among the major global players, Without Warning makes a crucial contribution to the study of international relations.From Library JournalThis innovative work seeks to bridge the gap between the academic study of international relations and the field of intelligence. The book is based on the author's doctoral dissertation in political science at the University of Washington, where he is a postdoctoral research fellow the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. In some ways, the book reflects Alexseev's professional and personal sojourn from Soviet journalist to U.S.-trained scholar. Using a vast array of sources, including Russian and French documents that have largely been ignored English-language scholarship, the author has produced a coherent, historically rich and theoretically sound book that covers such topics as the Mongol Empire and Sung China and the Soviet-American competition from 1971 to 1991. Recommended for academic libraries.?Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, Ala.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.About the AuthorMIKHAIL A. ALEXSEEV is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals as well as in such publications as The New York Times andNewsweek.