This book, first published in 1980, is a close analysis of Britain's defence policy in the latter years of the Cold War. It examines the factors that limited the choices available to the governments of the day, including technological advances, costs, changes in the balance of power, and strategic thinking in both West and East.

1. Defence Policy and the State 2. Strategy: Management and Ideology 3. NATO, Nuclear Deterrence and Super Power Rivalry 4. Of Numbers and Nukes 5. British Defence Policy in the 1970s 6. Costs and Technology 7. Rivalry and Alliance 8. Security in Disarmament 9. NATO and the British State 10. Choices in Defence Policy in the 1980s