Security in a Nuclear-armed World

This course will introduce the main debates about nuclear weapons and their effects on international security. Every session will be devoted to a crucial problem of the ‘nuclear age’, which is still relevant to contemporary security policymaking. How do we know that something “is nuclear” or not? Is there a “nuclear revolution,” and if so, what does it mean? How do nuclear weapons affect military strategy? How to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons? How can we explain nuclear arms races? What is at stake in the debate about nuclear disarmament? Why have nuclear weapons not been used in anger since 1945? These questions will be introduced through the study of concepts as well as historical events and their political operationalization.