Introduction / Zvi Lanir -- Conceiving balanced defense for a budding nation / by Yuval Neʼeman -- Political aims and military objectives / by Zvi Lanir -- Civilian control during a protracted war / by Yoram Peri -- The arms race in the Middle East in the 1980s / by Arieh Shalev -- The Middle East arms race intensification trap / by Ahron Yariv -- The technological arms race--an economic dead end? / by Zeev Bonen -- National security and national economy / by Ezra Sadan -- The economic burden of the arms race between the confrontation states and Israel / by Eliezer Sheffer.