Surviving Amid Chaos

Louis René Beres is emeritus professor of Political Science and International Law at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He was educated at Princeton University (Ph.D., 1971).

This timely and original scholarly book critically examines Israel's rapidly evolving nuclear strategy, a subject with which the author has been authoritatively acquainted for many years…. Surviving Amid Chaos, therefore, is a book that presents an altogether original synthesis of strategic and jurisprudential factors regarding Israel's nuclear strategy. In the final analysis, as this new book argues convincingly, Israel's nuclear strategy must spring from antecedent nuclear doctrine….Among other things, his book will explain why the best argument for ending deliberate nuclear ambiguity has nothing to do with simply re-stating the obvious, but rather with the deterrence-enhancing advantages of undertaking certain limited and incremental disclosures. Iran and other centers of future nuclear threat could be more durably deterred by Israel's nuclear strategy if that strategy suitably expressed the usability, survivability, and penetration-capability of Israel's indispensable nuclear forces.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: The Core Requirement of Nuclear WeaponsChapter 2: Refining Strategic ChoicesChapter 3: Deciphering Enemy Intentions and CapabilitiesChapter 4: Preserving a Sensible Samson OptionChapter 5: Convergences of Law and StrategyChapter 6: ConclusionIndexAbout the Author