Building peace under the nuclear sword of Damocles
- Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Forschungsinstitut, Bonn (Germany)
Mankind cannot unlearn the nuclear secret. Nor is there hope that a grandiose technical scheme, a la President Ronald Reagan`s vision of an impenetrable Strategic Defense Initiative peace shield, will make it possible to emasculate nuclear weapons. Only a true peace can render them obsolete and ineffective, that is, a situation in which nonviolent mechanisms of conflict management have become the universally accepted norm. In such a peace community, war between member states is inconceivable; consequently, the only justification for maintaining armed forces is protection from threats originating outside the community. Today the relationship between North America and its European allies meets the requirements of a peace community. The United States, Great Britain, and France deploy nuclear weapons, but mutual confidence among them has reached such a level that their nuclear arsenals are designed to deter outsiders and not to protect them from each other. In the Northern Hemisphere Moscow`s policy of new thinking, by making possible a political accommodation with the West, has removed the most obvious barrier to that objective. Thus there exists a continued need for a politico-military strategy designed to control the nuclear genie in a way that promotes peace-building. This chapter presents some of the main elements of a strategy that attempts to reconcile the management of nuclear deterrence with the process of creating a just and lasting peace. It begins with a discussion of pseudo-dilemmas that have been said to impair the stability of nuclear deterrence. Then the real risks, costs, and limits of nuclear deterrence are identified. The remainder of the chapter is devoted to devising a peace-building nuclear management strategy, based on Clausewitzian principles. To this end the chapter describes the dual challenge of war prevention and war termination, establishes the primacy of policy, and sets out some of the key guidelines for such a strategy. 45 refs.
- OSTI ID:
- 105179
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1992; Related Information: Is Part Of Nuclear weapons in the changing world: Perspectives from Europe, Asia, and North America; Garrity, P.J.; Maaranen, S.A. [eds.]; PB: 302 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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