The Russian Way of Deterrence: Strategic Culture, Coercion, and War

Adamsky has a deep knowledge of Russian military literature. In this short and informative book, he explores how the concept of deterrence has been developed by Russian analysts in ways that are quite different from the Western version, reflecting a distinctive cultural tradition that he traces back to tsarist times. Russian deterrence is broader than its Western counterpart, integrating conventional capabilities with nuclear forces and taking in all forms of coercion. In recent decades, it has come to include the information sphere, using bluffing and deception to manipulate the target’s view of reality. As Adamsky is well aware, it is one thing for theoreticians to develop a sophisticated and coherent theory but quite another for it to be adopted by the political and military leadership and put successfully into practice. The Russian theory, he suggests, paid insufficient attention to the circumstances in which it could fail and backfire. Ukraine has illuminated the limitations of the Russian approach as much as its potential.