California Studies on Global Conflict and Cooperation – serie

A Shield in Space? by Sanford Lakoff and Herbert F. York examines the Reagan administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), launched in 1983 and popularly dubbed “Star Wars.” Drawing on the program’s first five years, they argue SDI embodied misplaced faith in technological salvation: a politically driven shortcut that bypassed normal vetting and sidelined Defense and State. A technically uninformed president greenlit a research push to make nuclear weapons “impotent and obsolete,” hoping advanced technologies could replace deterrence. The record, they contend, shows otherwise: comprehensive, reliable defenses have not emerged and, even if feasible, would likely be vulnerable to countermeasures, failing to ensure confidence against a massive attack. Belief in a decisive, last technological move is thus a fallacy. Given these realities, letting hope for a space shield shape planning or block deep cuts in offensive arsenals would be folly; stability, integration, and cooperation offer a realistic path to durable peace.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.