Nuclear deterrence, disarmament and non-proliferation

Abstract

The first decade of the new millennium ended with very positive and promising perspectives towards nuclear disarmament, including the US president Barack Obama’s explicit pledge for a “world without nuclear weapons” in the Prague speech of 2009. Within this new context, the chapter looks at the Russian view on deterrence and makes the strong argument that a future nuclear-free world cannot be just the present world minus nuclear weapons but must be characterized by a very different system of international security and governance.