Engaging the enemy : organization theory and Soviet military innovation, 1955-1991 / Kimberly Marten Zisk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marten, Kimberly Zisk, 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military doctrine--Soviet Union.

Military doctrine.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 p.)

Edition:

Core Textbook

Other Title:

Organization theory and Soviet military innovation, 1955-1991

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1993.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Did a "doctrine race" exist alongside the much-publicized arms competition between East and West? Using recent insights from organization theory, Kimberly Marten Zisk answers this question in the affirmative. Zisk challenges the standard portrayal of Soviet military officers as bureaucratic actors wedded to the status quo: she maintains that when they were confronted by a changing external security environment, they reacted by producing innovative doctrine. The author's extensive evidence is drawn from newly declassified Soviet military journals, and from her interviews with retired high-ranking Soviet General Staff officers and highly placed Soviet-Russian civilian defense experts. According to Zisk, the Cold War in Europe was powerfully influenced by the reactions of Soviet military officers and civilian defense experts to modifications in U.S. and NATO military doctrine. Zisk also asserts that, contrary to the expectations of many analysts, civilian intervention in military policy-making need not provoke pitched civil-military conflict. Under Gorbachev's leadership, for instance, great efforts were made to ensure that "defensive defense" policies reflected military officers' input and expertise. Engaging the Enemy makes an important contribution not only to the theory of military organizations and the history of Soviet military policy but also to current policy debates on East-West security issues. Kimberly Marten Zisk is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Faculty Associate of the Mershon Center at the Ohio State University.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Military Organizations and Innovation

2. Doctrinal Debate and Decision in the USSR

3. Soviet Reactions to Flexible Response

4. Soviet Reactions to the Schlesinger Doctrine

5. Soviet Reactions to Western Deep-Strike Doctrines

6. Doctrine, Innovation, and Competition

Postscript: After the Cold War

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [251]-280) and index.

ISBN:

9786612751714

9781400808984

1400808987

9781400808960

1400808960

9781282751712

1282751719

9781400820931

1400820936

9781400813988

1400813980

OCLC:

700688729