Decisions on Nuclear Arsenals - Navigating Vulnerabilities from Yesterday to Tomorrow
In a session chaired by Benoît Pelopidas, an associate professor at CERI Sciences Po, researchers gathered to discuss the impact of nuclear weapons on democracy. The session, titled "Democracy and Nuclear Weapons," highlighted the negative effects of nuclear arms on democratic governance and public control.
One of the key research projects presented was the ERC project NUCLEAR, led by CERI Sciences Po. This project delves into various aspects of nuclear weapons policy, including factors beyond control in the avoidance of unwanted nuclear explosions, the effects of nuclearization on democracy, the best medium to overcome disbelief in nuclear catastrophe, the role of environmental change in nuclear weapons policymaking, production of unaccountability for foreseeable nuclear harm, and decision-making on nuclear weapons choices.
Sterre van Buuren, a research assistant for the ERC project NUCLEAR, spoke about conceptual incompatibilities of democratic control in the context of nuclear weapons. According to political theory, nuclear weapons are not democratically controllable because they create the possibility to wipe out one's own democracy without popular consent or the possibility of reversal, and because they necessarily affect people beyond the democracy's borders.
The destructive potential and secrecy requirements of nuclear weapons lead to restricted public control and decision-making transparency in democracies. The threat of nuclear weapons increases government motivation to prioritize security over open democratic deliberation, sometimes empowering elites or military-industrial actors at the expense of broader civic oversight.
Moreover, the existential threat posed by nuclear arms can erode democratic norms by justifying extraordinary state powers, accelerating militarization, and fostering inequalities that undermine democracy itself. For example, concentration of wealth and power in elite groups can subvert democratic institutions and promote policies favoring military expansion over social development, further distancing decision-making from public control.
The session also addressed the nuclearization of states and world politics, expanding beyond nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation. Hebatalla Taha spoke on nuclear histories and futures in the Middle East, while Kjølv Egeland discussed ideologies and narratives in a nuclear world. Thomas Fraise, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen, presented on nuclear secrecy and de-democratization.
In closing, Benoît Pelopidas presented new resources for researchers and educators, including survey results, primary sources, video toolkits, and visuals in French and English. The presentation offered a new framework to study how the scope of publicly available nuclear weapons choices is decided and showed how the illusion of absence of alternatives to nuclear weapons policies is produced. The empirical evidence included interviews and primary sources worldwide, surveys of a representative sample of the European public in nuclear weapons states.
In summary, while democracies strive to control nuclear risks and maintain peace through arms control frameworks, nuclear weapons challenge democratic principles by centralizing decision authority, reducing transparency, and sometimes enabling undemocratic power dynamics within otherwise democratic states. Calls for nuclear disarmament emphasize that sustainable peace and democracy require eliminating nuclear threats to restore humanitarian and public priorities in decision-making.
[1] "Democracies and Nuclear Weapons: A Comparative Study." Journal of Peace Research, vol. 54, no. 6, 2017. [2] "Nuclear Weapons and Democracy: Challenges and Implications." International Security, vol. 42, no. 2, 2017. [3] "Public Opinion and Nuclear Weapons: A Global Survey." International Affairs, vol. 94, no. 1, 2018. [4] "The Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons: A Call for Abolition." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 74, no. 6, 2018. [5] "Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons: A Report from the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament." International Peace Institute, 2017.
- The ERC project NUCLEAR, led by CERI Sciences Po, explores the implications of nuclear weapons on environmental science, with a focus on the role of climate change in nuclear weapons policymaking.
- Amid the ongoing discussions on war and conflicts, general news, medical-conditions, and political contexts, the destructive potential and secrecy requirements of nuclear weapons continue to pose challenges to democracy, leading to restricted public control and decision-making transparency.
- As highlighted in studies such as "Democracies and Nuclear Weapons: A Comparative Study" and "Public Opinion and Nuclear Weapons: A Global Survey," the existential threat posed by nuclear arms can distort democratic decision-making, prioritizing security over humanitarian needs and undermining the principles of democracy itself.
