New Book: The Russian Way of Deterrence

One of the shrewdest observers of Russia's "things military" Dima Adamsky published his new book on how deterrence à la Russe works.

The book investigates Russia's approach to coercion (both deterrence and compellence), comparing and contrasting it with the Western conceptualization of this strategy. He argues that deterrence is one of the main tools of Russian statecraft and deftly describes the genealogy of the Russian approach to coercion. He also highlights the cultural, ideational, and historical factors that have shaped it in the nuclear, conventional, and informational domains.

Drawing on extensive research on Russian strategic culture, Adamsky highlights several empirical and theoretical peculiarities of the Russian coercion strategy, including how this strategy relates to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Plenty to digest, a lot to argue about and some to disagree with, but definitely a worthy read. I will do a book review for this one later this month.