The virtual seminar will be held from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (E.T.)
The prospects for nuclear war are rising again, with the collapse of arms control, the erosion of deterrence, and intensified hostility among nuclear-armed states. Given the seemingly permanent possibility of nuclear destruction, the current world order appears to be in fundamental contradiction with the available forces of destruction, and thus ripe for sudden violent change. This presentation is part of a rethinking of the fundamental implications of the nuclear fact for the world. It will address this nuclear-political question using ideas about violence, interdependence, accessibility, and distinctiveness, to offer an international security theory that may give a firmer foundation for the deep nuclear arms control project, and a broadened menu of practical initiatives and arrangements suited for achieving security. This presentation draws on a current book project Pax Atomica: Geopolitics, Arms Control and Limited Government.
About the speaker: Daniel H. Deudney is Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. He has published extensively on international theory, the end of the Cold War, world political theory and contemporary global and planetary issues. His book, Bounding Power: Republican Security Theory from the Polis to the Global Village (Princeton, 2007) received the Book of the Decade Award (2000-2009) from the International Studies Association. His most recent book is Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics and the Ends of Humanity (Oxford, 2020).