11. Nuclear Weapons

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

Definition: A condition of mutual deterrence where both sides can destroy each other, making war suicidal, so they are forced to resolve their disputes in other ways

Context: From a realist perspective in lesson 11: Nuclear Weapons, MAD maintains stability through deterrence and relies on rational leaders, and only works if both sides have credible, second-strike capabilities.

Example: During the Cuban Missile Crisis in the Cold War, the US and the USSR avoided a direct conflict since they could both destroy each other since they were able to retaliate after a first strike.

Nuclear Taboo

Definition: A shared global norm prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons for moral reasons.

Context: In lesson 11: Nuclear Weapons, there was a reading on the Nuclear Taboo, whereby the author provided a constructivist explanation of nuclear restraint.

Example: The author gives the examples of the absence of nuclear use during the Korean and Vietnam wars due to the moral stigma that was shared by officials and by the international community.

Regulative (Constraining) Effects

Definition: Restrict behavior by making nuclear use unacceptable

Example: During the Korean War, the U.S. considered using nuclear weapons but didn’t, not just for strategic reasons, but because doing so was seen as crossing a moral line.

Constitutive Effect

Definition: Shape identities since “civilized” states see themselves as non-users of nuclear weapons.

Example: Saddam Hussein was painted “barbaric“ due to his use of chemical weapons in the Iraq War.

Permissive (Indirect)

Definition: Stigmatizing nuclear weapons makes other forms of violence seem acceptable

Example: In the Vietnam War, the U.S. used massive conventional bombing, which was seen as acceptable partly because nuclear weapons were off-limits.

Participant observer

Definition: someone who studies a group from the inside, by both observing and taking part in it

Technostrategic language

Definition: Special words used by the defense intellectuals that sanitizes nuclear war

Context: Carol Cohn’s feminist critique shows how language shapes moral detachment.

Example: Terms like “clean bombs“ and “penetration aids” depersonalize nuclear destruction.