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.mutual assuredA strategic nuclear doctrine claiming that war betweendestruction (MAD)superpowers is preventable if both sides have suffi-cient numbers of nuclear weapons to obliterate eachother, even if one party attempts a first strike.The con-cept first advocated by U.S.Defense Secretary RobertMcNamara became official American doctrine in the1960s and was modified into a countervailance con-cept in James Carter’s presidential directive 59 onJuly 25, 1980, in which the notion of annihilatingthe leadership replaced destroying the population ofan antagonist.Adopting MAD precluded efforts toattain strategic independence, which may have beenappropriate at a time when the Soviet Union couldbuild enough offensive weapons to thwart ballisticmissile defense.The doctrine has now been renderedpartially obsolete by nuclear proliferation, and byAmerica’s superior technology and weapons productionpotential.P1: JZZ0521857449gsyPrinter: cupusbwCUNY475B/Rosefielde0 521 85744 9November 6, 20069:17Glossary505nation-buildingIn public policy, the notion that it is possible, desirable,and cost-effective to transform less developed nationsinto free enterprise democracies through a process ofmodernization (technology transfer), and democratiza-tion without being thwarted by entrenched and hostilecultural forces.Nation-building was thought to be aprincipal engine of convergence, but this is belied statis-tically by the widening gap between rich and poor states.public culturepatchwork of beliefs, platitudes, and attitudes akin to acollective mind that allows policy makers to build con-sensus on bi- or nonpartisan wishful thinking.Amer-ican public culture approves partisan debate, toleratesdistortion and attitude management by the media, busi-ness, and government, and conceals latent conflicts topromote tranquility and forge consensus on the basisof shared wishful thinking.American public culturehas the virtue of protecting democracy but the defectof making us purblind, especially concerning nationalsecurity and foreign relations.It is akin to ideology, butfar more subtle.reconfiguration of globalA change in the predominant postwar pattern of wealthwealth and powerand power relations among nations.The facts of recon-figuration belie simpler characterizations of conver-gence and diverge embraced alternatively by free enter-prisers and Marxists.Reconfiguration is driven bydifferences in the performance potential of rival eco-nomic systems.regime changeA change of government, but not culture or politi-cal economy, that doesn’t infringe national sovereignty.Regime change is often preferable to nation-buildingfrom the standpoint of maximizing American nationalsecurity.rule of lawIn economics, the notion that a just society empow-ers individuals to maximize utility restricted only byvoluntarily negotiated, and state-enforced contractsinstead of having outcomes dictated by nondemocraticauthorities (the rule of men).It is indispensable forany well-functioning democratic free enterprise soci-ety.Although this is widely understood by profession-als, harmonists don’t hesitate to assume that economiesgoverned by the rule of men are efficient enough toassure convergence.rule of menIn economics, the principle of dictation by the power-ful, as distinct from voluntarily negotiated transactionsenforced by the rule of law.From a political perspective,P1: JZZ0521857449gsyPrinter: cupusbwCUNY475B/Rosefielde0 521 85744 9November 6, 20069:17506GlossaryWesterners scorn tyrants, but harmonists often contendthat this doesn’t matter if authoritarians pay lipserviceto balloting and markets.social democracyA variant of the idea of the West in which a sociallyconcerned state manages an otherwise free economythrough democratic means to promote social justice.The model is often referred to as the welfare state.Socialdemocracy is the cornerstone of the European Union.Itis a source of Europe’s ethical appeal, and the cause of itsmaterial inferiority creating a conflict between its aspi-rations and abilities that is increasing roiling transat-lantic relations.strategic independenceA conscious policy to determine for ourselves the bestprograms for maximizing American national securitywithout tying our hands with obsolete doctrines suchas mutual assured destruction, or needlessly appeasingthird parties, whether they declare themselves friendsor foes.structural militarizationTerm used to describe a productive system with alarge embedded military-industrial sector capable ofpersuading government leaders to provide sufficientresources to deal with worst-case security threats.superpowerPreeminent nuclear states.During the Cold War, Amer-ica and the Soviet Union were considered superpow-ers because they possessed more than 90 percent of theplanet’s nuclear weapons, and were said to have roughstrategic parity.Some analysts insist that America todayis the only superpower because of its economic superi-ority.Contrary to a great deal of nonsense, Russia has alarger strategic nuclear capability today than America.The numbers in the public domain are official arms con-trol figures, which bore no resemblance to reality duringSoviet times, and continue to be disinformational.terrorismThe employment of violence to intimidate civilian ormilitary adversaries, and to wreak vengeance.It can beused by anyone from the uniformed military to guer-rillas, insurrectionaries, and civilians.It can serve as atool of domestic repression (Stalin’s Great Terror), oras a weapon against foreigners
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