Stephen J Blank

Russian Military Politics and Russia's 2010 Defense Doctrine Stephen J Blank

Publisher Marketing: This monograph is the third in the series of monographs stemming from the Strategic Studies Institute- U. S. State Department conference on Russia in January 2010. It is devoted to a consideration of Russia's military doctrine. Russia had long before the conference announced the impending release of a new defense or military doctrine, but its release date was always being delayed, signifying a sharp political struggle over its contents. Although the doctrine ultimately was released on February 5, 2010, after the conference, the papers were nonetheless able to some degree to use the new text in their analysis. As a result, these three chapters provide an extremely revealing examination of the struggles over defining the threats facing Russia and the responses that the government should take to meet them. These struggles, as delineated here, provide deep insight into the nature of Russian security and military politics and the evolving views of key military and governmental institutions. No understanding of contemporary Russian defense and overall security policy is truly complete without taking into account the "backstage" politics described here. Neither is the doctrine entirely comprehensible without the kind of analysis that is offered. Contributor Bio:  Blank, Stephen J STEPHEN J. BLANK has served as the Strategic Studies Institute's expert on the Soviet bloc and the post-Soviet world since 1989. Dr. Blank is the editor of Imperial Decline: Russia's Changing Position in Asia, coeditor of Soviet Military and the Future, and author of The Sorcerer as Apprentice: Stalin's Commissariat of Nationalities, 1917-1924. He has also written many articles and conference papers on Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Eastern European security is-sues. Dr. Blank's current research deals with proliferation and the revolution in military affairs, and energy and security in Eurasia. His two most recent books are Russo-Chinese Energy Relations: Politics in Command, London, UK: Global Markets Briefing, 2006; and Natural Allies?: Regional Security in Asia and Prospects for Indo-American Strategic Cooperation, Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U. S. Army War College, 2005. Dr. Blank holds a B. A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M. A. and Ph. D. in history from the University of Chicago. RICHARD WEITZ is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hud-son Institute. His current research includes regional security developments relating to Europe, Eurasia, and East Asia as well as U. S. foreign, defense, homeland security, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) nonproliferation policies. Dr. Weitz has published or edited several books and monographs, including Global Security Watch-Russia (Praeger Security International, 2009); a volume of National Security Case Studies (Project on National Security Reform, 2008); China-Russia Security Relations (Strategic Studies Institute, U. S. Army War College, 2008); Kazakhstan and the New International Politics of Eurasia (Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, 2008); Mismanaging Mayhem: How Washington Responds to Crisis (Praeger Security International, 2008); The Reserve Policies of Nations: A Comparative Analysis (Strategic Studies Institute, U. S. Army War College, 2007); and Revitalising US-Russian Security Cooperation: Practical Measures (The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2005). Dr. Weitz holds a B. A. in government from Harvard College, an M. Sc. in international relations from the London School of Economics, an M. Phil. in politics from Oxford University, and a Ph. D. in political science from Harvard University.