STANFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
  
Cover of The Politics of Space Security by James Clay Moltz
The Politics of Space Security
Strategic Restraint and the Pursuit of National Interests, Third Edition
James Clay Moltz


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2019
400 pages.
$38.00

Paperback ISBN: 9781503608931
Ebook ISBN: 9781503609402

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For the past sixty years, countries have conducted military and civilian activities in space, often for competitive purposes. But they have not yet fought in this environment. This book examines the international politics of the space age from 1957 to the present, the reasons why strategic restraint emerged among the major military powers, and how recent trends toward weaponization may challenge prior norms of conflict avoidance. James Clay Moltz analyzes the competing demands of national interests in space against the shared interests of all spacefarers in preserving the safe use of space in the face of emerging threats, such as man-made orbital debris.

This new edition offers analysis of the 2011 to 2018 period, including the second term of President Obama and the beginning of the Trump administration. Focusing on great power competition and cooperation, as well as questions related to the sustainability of current and future national space policies, The Politics of Space Security is an authoritative history of the space age.

About the author

James Clay Moltz is chairman of the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, where he also holds a joint faculty appointment in the Space Systems Academic Group. He is the author of Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space (2014) and Asia's Space Race: National Motivations, Regional Rivalries, and International Risks (2012).

"In The Politics of Space Security, James Clay Moltz presents a concise yet brilliant analysis of the history of space security through the lens of the political environment that shaped it. Moltz's book does a fantastic job of giving just enough detail to strengthen his arguments while still keeping the text flowing."

—Brian Weeden, author of Arms Control Today