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Closing conference ERC project "Nuclear Weapons Choices - Governing Vulnerabilities between Past and Future"

On 21 January, the Nuclear Knowledges Team presented the findings of the 7-year European Research Council Project “Nuclear Weapons Choices- Governing Vulnerabilities between Past and Future”

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Closing conference ERC project "Nuclear Weapons Choices - Governing Vulnerabilities between Past and Future"

On 21 January, the Nuclear Knowledges Team presented the findings of the 7-year European Research Council Project “Nuclear Weapons Choices- Governing Vulnerabilities between Past and Future”

Learn more

Supplement to "Existential Silos"

This is supplementary material to the article "Existential Silos: The Compartmentalization of the Futures of Environmental Change and the Nuclear Threat". It provides a list of articles identifying some type of connection between nuclear weapons and environmental change that may be of interest for future research.

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Supplement to "Existential Silos"

This is supplementary material to the article "Existential Silos: The Compartmentalization of the Futures of Environmental Change and the Nuclear Threat". It provides a list of articles identifying some type of connection between nuclear weapons and environmental change that may be of interest for future research.

Learn more

The Struggle for Abolition: Power and Legitimacy in Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Diplomacy

Kjølv Egeland's new book, The Struggle for Abolition, investigates the pursuit by states, civil society groups, and international organisations of nuclear abolition. Detailing the evolution of the institutional architecture for multilateral nuclear disarmament from the 1960s onwards, this book tells a story ofhigh hopes, broken promises, and clashing views of history, security, and the future.

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The Struggle for Abolition: Power and Legitimacy in Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Diplomacy

Kjølv Egeland's new book, The Struggle for Abolition, investigates the pursuit by states, civil society groups, and international organisations of nuclear abolition. Detailing the evolution of the institutional architecture for multilateral nuclear disarmament from the 1960s onwards, this book tells a story ofhigh hopes, broken promises, and clashing views of history, security, and the future.

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Nuclear France: New questions, new sources, new findings

Our latest publication (Routledge, 2024) offers the first non-official history of French nuclear policies which goes beyond the divide between nuclear weapons and nuclear energy policies. It addresses the sizing of France’s nuclear forces, technological assistance to countries with nuclear weapons programs, uranium prospection, nuclear testing, its health effects and protests against it, as well as plans to prevent and manage accidents in nuclear power plants.

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Nuclear France: New questions, new sources, new findings

Our latest publication (Routledge, 2024) offers the first non-official history of French nuclear policies which goes beyond the divide between nuclear weapons and nuclear energy policies. It addresses the sizing of France’s nuclear forces, technological assistance to countries with nuclear weapons programs, uranium prospection, nuclear testing, its health effects and protests against it, as well as plans to prevent and manage accidents in nuclear power plants.

Learn more

Lecture - Scoping Nuclear Weapons Choices in an Age of Existential Threats

The Stanford Centre for the Study of Existential Risk hosts a public lecture by Professor Benoît Pelopidas

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Lecture - Scoping Nuclear Weapons Choices in an Age of Existential Threats

The Stanford Centre for the Study of Existential Risk hosts a public lecture by Professor Benoît Pelopidas

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Article in Cogito - Facing Nuclear Vulnerabilities

On 12 October 2022, the French President seemed worried about the growing number of references to nuclear weapons in the public arena following Russian threats, and declared on the France 2 national television channel: ‘The less we talk about nuclear weapons, the more credible they are.’ It is certainly the case that we usually do not talk about them, except during occasional panics whenever a crisis or a threat suddenly reminds us of the destructive capacity of these weapons and the inability of states to protect their populations from nuclear explosions...

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Article in Cogito - Facing Nuclear Vulnerabilities

On 12 October 2022, the French President seemed worried about the growing number of references to nuclear weapons in the public arena following Russian threats, and declared on the France 2 national television channel: ‘The less we talk about nuclear weapons, the more credible they are.’ It is certainly the case that we usually do not talk about them, except during occasional panics whenever a crisis or a threat suddenly reminds us of the destructive capacity of these weapons and the inability of states to protect their populations from nuclear explosions...

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Interview - Scoping nuclear weapons futures

During his visit to CEU (February 2023), Professor Benoit Pelopidas discussed Nuclear Weapons Futures.

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Interview - Scoping nuclear weapons futures

During his visit to CEU (February 2023), Professor Benoit Pelopidas discussed Nuclear Weapons Futures.

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Podcast - Vis a Vis: "nuclear Proliferation, Close Calls, and Luck"

In Columbia University's Vis a Vis podcast, Benoît Pelopidas discusses close calls and the role of luck in preventing nuclear catastrophe. He unravels much of the prevailing logic around nuclear deterrence, warns of the dangers of relying on information from the official experts in nuclear weapons states, and discusses how the magnitude of the threat can be conveyed to the general public.

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Podcast - Vis a Vis: "nuclear Proliferation, Close Calls, and Luck"

In Columbia University's Vis a Vis podcast, Benoît Pelopidas discusses close calls and the role of luck in preventing nuclear catastrophe. He unravels much of the prevailing logic around nuclear deterrence, warns of the dangers of relying on information from the official experts in nuclear weapons states, and discusses how the magnitude of the threat can be conveyed to the general public.

Learn more

Webinar - Rethinking Nuclear Weapons Choices

Benoît Pelopidas presents at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey's Center for Nonproliferation Studies Webinar.

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Webinar - Rethinking Nuclear Weapons Choices

Benoît Pelopidas presents at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey's Center for Nonproliferation Studies Webinar.

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PhD Thesis: Restricted Democracies

Nuclear weapons programs, secrecy, and democracy in the United Kingdom, France,

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PhD Thesis: Restricted Democracies

Nuclear weapons programs, secrecy, and democracy in the United Kingdom, France,

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Podcast (Press the Button) - Nuclear Weapons Choices

How are our nuclear weapons choices decided? Who gets a say in making the knowledge that is used to justify these choices? Emma Belcher discusses these questions with Benoit Pelopidas.

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Podcast (Press the Button) - Nuclear Weapons Choices

How are our nuclear weapons choices decided? Who gets a say in making the knowledge that is used to justify these choices? Emma Belcher discusses these questions with Benoit Pelopidas.

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Panel - Nuclear Knowledge Production: Authority, Truths, and Making Sense of the Bomb

How did the existing nuclear hierarchies of knowledge and practice come into being? What threats and opportunities are inherent in expanding and diversifying the intellectual, institutional, and regional engagements with the nuclear threat, and what are the barriers to such expansion?

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Panel - Nuclear Knowledge Production: Authority, Truths, and Making Sense of the Bomb

How did the existing nuclear hierarchies of knowledge and practice come into being? What threats and opportunities are inherent in expanding and diversifying the intellectual, institutional, and regional engagements with the nuclear threat, and what are the barriers to such expansion?

Learn more

"Toxique", Finalist for the Albert Londres Prize

“Toxique” authored by Philippe and Statius named a finalist for the Albert Londres Prize, France highest journalism award

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"Toxique", Finalist for the Albert Londres Prize

“Toxique” authored by Philippe and Statius named a finalist for the Albert Londres Prize, France highest journalism award

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Roundtable - Ethics and Taboos: the Contribution of Survey Experiments

A roundtable organized for the Chair of Excellence in Security Studies

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Roundtable - Ethics and Taboos: the Contribution of Survey Experiments

A roundtable organized for the Chair of Excellence in Security Studies

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Book Presentation - Why do states choose nuclear restraint ?

Dr. Thomas Jonter discusses his research asking: Why did Sweden choose, in the late 1960s, to abolish its long-standing nuclear weapons plans?

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Book Presentation - Why do states choose nuclear restraint ?

Dr. Thomas Jonter discusses his research asking: Why did Sweden choose, in the late 1960s, to abolish its long-standing nuclear weapons plans?

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Seminar - Are nuclear arsenals safe from cyberattacks?

Andrew Futter presents his book on Hacking the Bomb in the Nuclear Knowledges Seminar

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Seminar - Are nuclear arsenals safe from cyberattacks?

Andrew Futter presents his book on Hacking the Bomb in the Nuclear Knowledges Seminar

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Seminar - Nuclear Crises and Strategic Stability

Mark Bell, Julia MacDonald, and Sharon Weiner discuss their papers on nuclear crisis, asking: How dangerous are nuclear crises? What dynamics underpin how they unfold? Recent tensions between North Korea and the United States have exposed profound disagreement among scholars and analysts.

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Seminar - Nuclear Crises and Strategic Stability

Mark Bell, Julia MacDonald, and Sharon Weiner discuss their papers on nuclear crisis, asking: How dangerous are nuclear crises? What dynamics underpin how they unfold? Recent tensions between North Korea and the United States have exposed profound disagreement among scholars and analysts.

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Seminar - Nuclear Reach: Uranium Prospection and the Global Ambitions of the French Nuclear Program, 1945-1965

Matthew Adamson presents his work France’s nuclear reach.

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Seminar - Nuclear Reach: Uranium Prospection and the Global Ambitions of the French Nuclear Program, 1945-1965

Matthew Adamson presents his work France’s nuclear reach.

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Seminar - From the Perennial Nuclear Security State to Federated Powers of Shared Nuclear Responsibility

Sonja Amadae presents her work on republican theory and the paradox of sovereignty in the nuclear age.

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Seminar - From the Perennial Nuclear Security State to Federated Powers of Shared Nuclear Responsibility

Sonja Amadae presents her work on republican theory and the paradox of sovereignty in the nuclear age.

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UNIDIR Panel - Crises and the Usability of Nuclear Weapons

Difficult relations among some of the nuclear-armed powers have contributed to an atmosphere that lends itself to the onset of crisis. With a proportion of existing arsenals already on high alert status, the warning and decision time available to nuclear decisionmakers is short in crisis situations. How does this affect thresholds against use of nuclear weapons? What are feasible means to reduce the risk of nuclear detonations happening?

Learn more

UNIDIR Panel - Crises and the Usability of Nuclear Weapons

Difficult relations among some of the nuclear-armed powers have contributed to an atmosphere that lends itself to the onset of crisis. With a proportion of existing arsenals already on high alert status, the warning and decision time available to nuclear decisionmakers is short in crisis situations. How does this affect thresholds against use of nuclear weapons? What are feasible means to reduce the risk of nuclear detonations happening?

Learn more