Cold Water Politics - the Maritime Strategy and Geopolitics of the Northern front

Increased US-Soviet strategic interest in circumventing the physical and political restrictions of Continental Europe coupled with a tactical interest in mobile and concealed weapon platforms, has led to heightened superpower interest in the Scandinavian Peninsula and the Northern waters. These waters have since become an object of offensive activities, of "Cold Water Politics." In this volume, Tunander provides a timely review of the strategy policies of the superpowers in the Northern waters of Europe. The author finds that the United States has supplemented a decreasingly credible nuclear deterrence by an offensive maritime strategy directed at vital targets in Soviet "home waters" in an attempt to deter the Soviet Union from venturing into areas vital to the West. At the same time, the possibility of a conventional war has made the Soviet Union more interested in its rimlands. In the early 1980s, international tension, US cruise missiles, and offensive US maritime strategy accentuated Soviet interest in Scandinavian waters. A study in technological change, military strategy, and geopolitics, this timely volume will be essential reading for students and researchers in the areas of international relations and peace studies. "This volume constitutes an excellent critical analysis of the (Forward) Maritime Strategy of the U.S. Navy." --Non-Offensive Defence "A concise and expert discussion. . . . [Tunander] is very well read in the multinational literature on the subject; his bibliography is in itself a treasure trove. Most valuable is the detailed treatment of the role of Sweden, which is not covered in the literature that deals exclusively with NATO countries. . . . politically highly enlightening for American students. Upper-division undergraduates and above." --Choice "A good introduction to the field, and to the people investigating it....sensible, balanced and unemotional....a most useful introduction to what is likely to be one of the most interesting issues of the next few years...much recommended." --The Journal of Strategic Studies