POLS 2940 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Cuban Missile Crisis, Start Ii
12 Dec 2013
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Mutually assured destruction: the possession of second-strike nuclear capabilities by two adversaries, which ensures that neither could prevent the other from destroying it in an all-out war. (deterrence) Has to do with nuclear weapons (purpose of possessing nuclear weapons is almost always to deter another state from nuclear or conventional attack by threatening ruinous retaliation) First strike: an attack intended to destroy largely or entirely- a states" nuclear weapons before they can be used. Second strike capabilities: weapons that can take a first strike and still strike back give a state these capabilities. Thus, mad implies that the strategy, though reflecting rationality , is actually insane (mad) because deviations from rationality could destroy both sides. Theory that takes the world as it is and attempts to make institutions and relationships work more smoothly within that given framework. Usually contrasted with critical theory, which stands apart from the prevailing order of the world and asks how that order came about.
