Reclaiming Nuclear Politics? Nuclear Realism, the H-Bomb and Globality
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Reclaiming Nuclear Politics? Nuclear Realism, the H-Bomb and Globality. / Sylvest, Casper; Munster, Rens van.
In: Security Dialogue, Vol. 45, No. 6, 2014, p. 530-547.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Reclaiming Nuclear Politics? Nuclear Realism, the H-Bomb and Globality
AU - Sylvest, Casper
AU - Munster, Rens van
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - As nuclear weapons are again becoming the subject of critical scholarship and progressive activism, this article seeks to widen the perspective of critical security studies in relation to nuclear weapons and to provide a better understanding of the historical precursors of current ambitions. We do so by focusing on the central decade of the thermonuclear revolution (ca 1952–1963) and on a body of thought we term ‘nuclear realism’. Nuclear realists were united by the central conviction that liberal modernity could survive collective suicide only by radically rethinking and transforming its foundations. Günther Anders, John Herz, Lewis Mumford and Bertrand Russell take centre stage, and we highlight that the central pillars in their project of nuclear critique was a dissection of the legacy of the Enlightenment and an incisive examination of its implications for (international) politics in the nuclear age. These dimensions came together in their critique of the prevailing concept of deterrence. In an attempt to reclaim nuclear politics for a wider public, nuclear realists stressed the absolute centrality of imagination as a strategy for unmasking the power and rationality of a growing national security establishment, on the one hand, and bringing a distinct, alternative vision of global politics and security into view, on the other. This comprehensive yet multifaceted project, while afflicted by its own challenges, is deeply relevant for today’s nuclear politics.
AB - As nuclear weapons are again becoming the subject of critical scholarship and progressive activism, this article seeks to widen the perspective of critical security studies in relation to nuclear weapons and to provide a better understanding of the historical precursors of current ambitions. We do so by focusing on the central decade of the thermonuclear revolution (ca 1952–1963) and on a body of thought we term ‘nuclear realism’. Nuclear realists were united by the central conviction that liberal modernity could survive collective suicide only by radically rethinking and transforming its foundations. Günther Anders, John Herz, Lewis Mumford and Bertrand Russell take centre stage, and we highlight that the central pillars in their project of nuclear critique was a dissection of the legacy of the Enlightenment and an incisive examination of its implications for (international) politics in the nuclear age. These dimensions came together in their critique of the prevailing concept of deterrence. In an attempt to reclaim nuclear politics for a wider public, nuclear realists stressed the absolute centrality of imagination as a strategy for unmasking the power and rationality of a growing national security establishment, on the one hand, and bringing a distinct, alternative vision of global politics and security into view, on the other. This comprehensive yet multifaceted project, while afflicted by its own challenges, is deeply relevant for today’s nuclear politics.
U2 - 10.1177/0967010614543583
DO - 10.1177/0967010614543583
M3 - Journal article
VL - 45
SP - 530
EP - 547
JO - Security Dialogue
JF - Security Dialogue
SN - 0967-0106
IS - 6
ER -
ID: 371691722