From the editors

Abstract

We would like to welcome Chiara Libiseller to the editorial team of The Journal of Strategic Studies. We are excited to have her join us as Deputy Editor. We would similarly like to extend our deepest appreciation to Joshua Rovner for his years of service as Deputy Editor and to Alan James for his tenure as the journal’s Reviews Editor. In recent years, as evidence of China’s nuclear and conventional buildup has grown, so too has concern over the prospects of escalation stemming from the entanglement of Chinese nuclear and conventional weapon systems. In ‘Are They Reading Schelling in Beijing? The Dimensions, Drivers, and Risks of Nuclear-Conventional Entanglement in China’, David C. Logan of Princeton University develops a framework for assessing entanglement and its risks. Applying that framework to China, he finds that Beijing’s missiles are not as entangled as is sometimes feared. He argues that strategic signaling and perception management will be key to controlling escalation risks stemming from nuclear-conventional entanglement in China. The issue’s next three essays examine the topics of strategic culture and military innovation. In ‘Theory of Strategic Culture: An Analytical Framework for Russian Cyber Threat Perception’, Martti J. Kari of the University of Jyväskylä and Katri Pynnöniemi of the University of Helsinki formulate an analytical framework to study the formation of Russian thinking on cyber threats as part of Russian strategic culture. They identify a sense of vulnerability, the narrative of Russia as a besieged fortress, and the technological inferiority of Russia as specific factors influencing Russian cyber threat perceptions.