1st Edition
Global Nuclear Disarmament Strategic, Political, and Regional Perspectives
This book examines the issue of nuclear disarmament in different strategic, political, and regional contexts.
This volume seeks to provide a rich theoretical and practical insight to one of the major topics in the field of international security: global abolishment of nuclear weapons. Renewed calls for a nuclear weapons-free world have sparked a wide academic debate on both the attainability of such goal and the steps that should be taken. Comparably less attention, however, has been paid to theoretically informed considerations of the consequences of nuclear abolition. Comprising essays from leading scholars and experts within the field, this collection discusses the fundamental theoretical and conceptual foundations of nuclear disarmament and subsequently tries to assess its hypothetical impact in global and regional contexts. The varied methodological approach of the contributors aims to advance a multi-theoretical and multi-perspectival view of the issue. The book is organized in three main sections: ‘Strategic Perspectives’, dealing with the specific constraints and facilitators for the states to achieve their core objectives; ‘Political Perspectives’, with the focus on the power of norms, belief-systems and ideas; and ‘Regional Perspectives’, with the analyses of seven regional and/or state-specific nuclear contexts. As a whole, the volume provides a detailed, complex overview of the risks and opportunities that are embedded in the vision of a nuclear weapon-free world.
This book will be of great interest to students of nuclear proliferation, arms control, war and conflict studies, international relations and security studies.
Foreword, Robert Jervis 1. Introduction: Nuclear Disarmament: Prague Moments and Analytical Remarks, Nik Hynek and Michal Smetana Part I: Strategic Perspectives 2. Nuclear Abolition: Strategic Context and Constrains, T.V. Paul 3. Trust-Building in Nuclear Disarmamentm, Jan Ruzicka and Nicholas J. Wheeler 4. Nuclear Infrastructure, Strategic Hedging, and the Implications for Disarmament, Michal Smetana 5. Virtual Nuclear Deterrence and Strategic Stability, James M. Acton 6.Verification and Nuclear Disarmament, Andreas Persbo 7. Missile Defense and Deterrence in a Post-Nuclear World, Nik Hynek Part II: Political Perspectives 8. Normative Strategies for Disarmament, Nina Tannenwald 9. Advocacy Networks and Nuclear Weapon-Free World, Alyn Ware 10. NATO’s Zero: Cohesion, Security, and Globalization, Jan Ludvik 11. A World Order Critique of Nuclear Abolition, Elbridge Colby 12. Unintended Consequences of the Prague Speech, Linton Brooks Part III: Regional Perspectives 13. US Perspective on Nuclear Weapon-Free World, Hans M. Kristensen 14. Russian Perspective on Nuclear Disarmament and Post-Nuclear World, Nikolai Sokov 15. European Nuclear Nationalism: Disarmament Perspectives from the UK and France, Nick Ritchie and Benoit Pelopidas 16. Chinese Position on Disarmament and the Regional Security, Hui Zhang 17. India, Pakistan, and the Unlikely Dream of a Nuclear-Free South Asia, S. Paul Kapur and Sumit Ganguly 18. Israel, the Middle East, and the Ways of Overcoming the Security Dilemma, Dorte Hühnert, Bernd W. Kubbig, and Christian Weidlich
Biography
Nik Hynek is Associate Professor at the Metropolitan University and Charles University Prague, Czech Republic. He is the author or editor of several books, including Human Security as Statecraft (Routledge 2012) and Statebuilding in Afghanistan (co-editor, Routledge 2011).
Michal Smetana is Lecturer and Research Associate at the Institute of Political Studies, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
'How realistic is nuclear disarmament? Contributors to this volume offer a range of judgments backed by careful arguments and empirical evidence. They embrace different conceptual perspectives, but speak to one another across these divides. This is a must read for scholars and policymakers'. -- Richard Ned Lebow, King's College London, UK
'A vigorous survey of current thinking on nuclear disarmament with a global range of views by distinguished and experienced analysts. From strategic, political, and regional perspectives they crisply assess this vital subject: pro and con, feasible or not, rewarding or not'. -- Patrick M. Morgan, University of California Irvine, USA
