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The present diploma thesis aims to compare the approach of the Bush and Obama administrations towards the role of nuclear weapons in the United States security strategy. The author focuses at the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) reports from 2001 and 2010, employing a detailed comparative analysis of their respective content as well as their implications. The analysis concentrates at broader conceptual issues as well as very concrete steps related to specific elements of the United States strategic arsenal. The author of the thesis argues that the current political discourse which attributes a nearly revolutionary character to the approach of the Obama administration to the United States nuclear policy does not fully match the actual dimension of change between the NPR of 2001 and 2010. In fact, the evolution of the United States nuclear strategy maintains its own dynamics in many aspects. Additionally, the present diploma thesis also tries to analyze both documents within the context of the evolution of the United States nuclear strategy since the 1990s which allows the author to identify the shifts as well as the patterns of continuity in the US nuclear policy in the post-Cold War period.