On Deterrence

Michael B. Seaton, Phil D. Gardner, Richard E. Porter

Expert InsightsPublished 1980

A collection of articles and commentaries on the principles of deterrence — whether they exist, what they are, and how they might be applied. The contributions, intended for publication in the Air University Review, are written by military officers — a departure from the tradition that discussions of deterrence are the province of civilian theorists. Topics discussed under principles of deterrence include preparedness, nonprovocation, credibility, clarity of intent, publicity, controllability, flexibility, negotiation, unity and economy of effort, and independence. The military approach is that deterrence is a concept that must be expressed in physical realities of action and force structures.

Document Details

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Seaton, Michael B., Phil D. Gardner, and Richard E. Porter, On Deterrence. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1980. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P6468.html.
BibTeX RIS

This publication is part of the RAND paper series. The paper series was a product of RAND from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.