The US/Soviet Arms Competition: Quantitative/Qualitative Aspects

The study seeks to give decisionmakers an unclassified analysis of the nature and intensity of US/Soviet arms competition since World War II and to point out implications for future national security policy. The study places emphasis on the overall indicators of the race and strategic nuclear arms. Scholars have concluded that a quantitative arms race usually leads to war, but a qualitative one does not. The study sets up operational definitions for these type races, and tests the US/Soviet case by charting trends in military personnel, nuclear arms, defense expenditures and fear/hostility.