Cold War Deterrence Doesn’t Work Anymore

Why Old Strategies Fail in a Fragmented Worl

How traditional Cold War-era deterrence models—built on the logic of mutually assured destruction and bipolar power structures—are increasingly ineffective in today’s multipolar, asymmetric global landscape.

• Rise of non-state actors and rogue cyber threats that don’t respond to conventional deterrence.
• Fragmented alliances and blurred lines between diplomacy, warfare, and economic coercion.
• Technological disruption, including AI, drones, and cyber warfare, which complicate strategic calculations.
• Regional power shifts, especially in Asia and the Middle East, where deterrence is shaped by local dynamics rather than global superpower standoffs.