Download or read book Escalation and Arms Races written by Garrett R. Chandler and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From the 2001 Rumsfeld report, to the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite (ASAT) test, to China’s 2014 alleged test of a geostationary orbit ASAT, the defense community has had ample reason to place more emphasis on space. The most recent manifestations of this emphasis is the possible creation of a Space Force and changes in strategic rhetoric about the space domain. These are seismic shifts from the way the U.S. addressed space during the Cold War, when the National Reconnaissance Office covertly conducted military efforts in space while the National Aeronautics and Space Administration openly conducted peaceful space exploration. This arrangement specifically aimed to maintain space as a peaceful sanctuary. The creation of a Space Force implies a militarized change to this construct. While domestically a Space Force may be the correct bureaucratic move to create an independent service which can best advocate for its own training and capabilities, the international message sent by such actions requires careful consideration. Many authors argue that the contemporary change in strategic rhetoric with respect to space is escalatory. They identify strategic language as a causal factor affecting the strategic disposition of arms between nations. This perspective, however, is not the case. Changes in strategic rhetoric have a strong correlation to changes in the strategic disposition of arms between states, but they are not causal. The causal factors that affect the strategic disposition of arms instead have to do with traditional factors associated with arms races. In this study I examine the phenomenon of arms races in and out of the context of rivalry through three historical case studies. I then examine the current relationship between the United States and China. I observe that the same factors identified in the case studies have the potential to spur a space arms race within a U.S.-China rivalry. Further, I note that capability gaps have driven Chinese developments of space capability that are correlated with, not caused by, changes in strategic rhetoric. This context is important to understand given the contemporary shifts in behavior within the space domain."--Abstract.