This book, first published in 1982, examines the crisis of detente in Europe and between the superpowers, the crisis in arms control, and the heightening of tensions within NATO, and analyses the central precepts of Western policy and thought in these areas. These crises are examined in terms of the trends, thought and action in the area of Western security. In particular, the concept of strategic stability, the assumptions behind arms control, and between arms control and security policy, are critically analysed.