Can the Danger of Nuclear War Be Eliminated by Disarmament?

Abstract

How can we reduce, or eliminate, the possibility of nuclear war in a world of international anarchy? Several recent initiatives seek to address this problem by stigmatizing the possession of nuclear weaponry and reviving the idea of general nuclear disarmament. If the very possession, not to mention use, of nuclear weapons becomes regarded as morally obscene, peoples and states will eventually divest themselves of the bomb and we will arrive at a world free of nuclear weapons simply by virtue of an ideational shift. In this chapter, I argue that the unique characteristics of nuclear weapons make disarmament in an interstate world impossible. Only the elimination of international anarchy can put a certain end to the possibility of nuclear war.