Strategic Defense Initiative

Rebecca S. Bjork is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Utah.

• Preface 1. Toward a Rhetorical Understanding of SDI 2. Innocence and Destiny in American Foreign Policy 3. Rhetorical Challenges to the Arms Race 4. The Symbolic Power of SDI 5. The "New World Order" and SDI 6. Public Debate in an Age of Strategic Defense Notes Works Cited Index

"This book is extremely interesting to read. The author seeks to answer the question,'What is it about foreign policy as such that constrains public debate?' I view this as a subject of critical significance in a democracy, a topic which the author explores with intelligence and imagination. This issue is both important in itself and central to the field of American foreign policy." — Henry T. Nash, Wheaton College"It's particularly strong in its analysis of the nuclear freeze movement's rhetorical strategy, and how this was co-opted by the Reagan Administration's SDI campaign. It is also a fascinating account of how SDI simply elided criticism by arguing that more research is needed. By locating these moments of recent history within the larger cultural ambit of US diplomatic history, the author has contributed in a significant way to an explanation of how this strange techno-strategic project could ever receive serious consideration and funding." — Bradley S. Klein, University of Hartford