Evolution of Strategic Stability in Contemporary World Politics

Strategic stability is a term widely used to describe a desired state of relations among international actors in general or in a specific domain of their interaction. "Strategic stability" encapsulates a range of meanings, including "long-term," "reliable," "secure," etc. Because of the attractiveness of its presumed properties, achieving strategic stability is often cited as a goal in negotiations. In some cases, negotiating parties have reason to believe that they have agreed upon and subsequently implemented "strategic stability." However, on many occasions, negotiating parties changed their preferred definitions of "stability" and demanded a revision of balances agreed under an earlier definition. Given the quest for adaptation of the notion of strategic stability under the changing circumstances, how much sense does it make to consider "strategic stability" as an independent variable affecting the calculus of major powers? The panel will examine the extent to which the term "strategic stability" designates an achievable--and in fact, stable--state of relations and the extent to which it is being used as a figure of speech. It will also analyze the implications for security negotiations of the discrepancies in how key international players define "strategic stability" and assess its usefulness as an analytical concept.