Contents: Nuclear Deterrence: An Instrument of World Peace or Instability? (Issue 46)
Contents: Nuclear Deterrence: An Instrument of World Peace or Instability? (Issue 46)
Aug 15
Guest-Editorial: Nuclear Deterrence: An Instrument of World Peace or Instability?
By Rameez Raja
Ever since nukes appeared on the international scene, scholars started publishing books, articles, and monographs to express their views and opinions regarding nuclear deterrence. The Absolute Weapons in 1946 by Bernard Brodie was the first scholarly work in this regard. Subsequently, realists and neo-realists dominated the discourse on deterrence that nukes promote stability and peace between the belligerent states.
Paper tiger or white elephant: Nuclear weapons still thrive
By Ingudam Yaipharemba Singh
Nuclear deterrence has the most credible effect in respect to a possible nuclear attack. It is a policy of threatening the use of nuclear weapons in order to avoid an opponent’s aggression. Many theorists who believe in nuclear deterrence claim that the result is a ‘stable balance of terror’ or so called ‘Balance of Terror’.
The loopholes in the nuclear deterrence theory
By Rameez Raja
The scientists such as Albeit Einstein who championed the cause of nuclear energy are regarded as great. Leo Szillard, Edward Teller, Eugene Wigner, Ernest Rutherford, and Frederic Soddy contributed to this field in the 1940s. The other discoveries from James Chadwick, Carl Anderson, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, Frederic Juliot-Curie, Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann, and Lise Meitner helped the world know about nuclear energy in the 1930s.
Atoms for instability: India, Pakistan, and the threat of nuclear war over Kashmir
By Zahid Hussain
Following the logic of deterrence, both India and Pakistan, in a bid to deter each other from any large-scale attack, tested their nuclear weapons in 1998. Hope was pinned on these lethal weapons for shepherding both the states for a long-term and sustainable peace. However, it did not take long enough for such hopes to be dashed – Kargil War happened in 1999 just one year after both the states went nuclear.
A dangerous nuclear future due to unresolved disputes
By Rameez Raja and Ishrat Mohi-ud-Din
After the Uri incident and surgical strikes which Pakistan denied, Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated that TNWs will be utilized if any violation of LOC from the Indian side is discovered. It is interesting to note that without moving to a peaceful solution of unresolved dispute, both states continued their nuclear arms race.
The blurry nuclear doctrines of India and Pakistan
By Rameez Raja
India and Pakistan have crossed the nuclear threshold in May 1998 when they detonated 11 nuclear devices. Subsequently, both states have provided clarifications about their nuclear tests and claimed to be responsible nuclear weapon states. Optimists argue that nukes will stabilize the tensions between the two states.
Nuclear weapons and the potential disasters
By Tahir Abdullah Lone
Currently, nine countries together possess around 15,000 nuclear weapons. The US and Russia maintain roughly 1,800 of their nuclear weapons on high-alert status – ready to be launched within minutes of a warning. Most of these weapons are many times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.
Accountability and stockpile of nuclear warheads
By Rameez Raja
After the US bombardment on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the obsession of states for acquiring nuclear warheads started. When the former Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in 1949, the US lost its monopoly over nuclear weapons. The United Kingdom, France, China, and three threshold states like Israel, India, and Pakistan joined the nuclear club later.
Nuclear-free world: A fantasy and reality
By Layeeq Ahmad Sheikh
Most of the policymakers and peace activists from various organizations today feel that the vision of a nuclear weapons free world can be achieved in future if not sooner. With this aim, an organization, Global Zero, was set up in 2008 in Paris to get rid of nuclear weapons through a multilateral, universal, and verifiable process. This organization is worth mentioning here as it is expected to begin its negotiations on the Global Zero treaty by 2019.
