After the Cold War ended, the process of nuclear disarmament began to stagnate and in recent years there are signs of backsliding. Efforts to revive the disarmament regime over decades culminated with the drafting and ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017 and 2021 respectively, much to the dismay of nuclear weapons states. The U.S., Britain, and France have declared their dismissal of the treaty while subscribing to the disarmament regime as established by the Non-proliferation Treaty of 1970.  The Western nuclear powers typically channel their opposition through NATO, and this thesis will first look at NATO’s legal arguments and as the strategy of nuclear deterrence which is fundamental to their defensive strategy. I will then investigate NATO discourse as it pertains to nuclear weapon strategy as a constituent of its subjectivity and intentionality. In other words, what it is like to “be” NATO, and in so doing understand why it acts in opposition to a goal it already pursues.  This is relevant to IR in that it explores an alterative manner in which to understand social structures while adhering to research designs typically ascribes to the “lower” unit of analysis of individuals.

The recent developments in negotiations to reduce nuclear weapons in Europe mark a watershed in attitudes towards nuclear deterrence and security. On the one side lie all the old beliefs and assumptions about nuclear defence and security that have been common parlance for the last forty years and more. On the other side lies a unique opportunity to develop a new relationship of increased mutual trust between East and West that could ultimately lead to substantial reductions in the world's nuclear arsenal. The object of this thesis is to establish how much information already exists about attitudes towards nuclear deterrence and the processes of attitude change. From there, to extend these boundaries of knowledge in the belief that if we are able to understand more exactly what people think about nuclear deterrence, why they hold these attitudes and how attitudes change then we will be in a better position to ease the transitional stage between one set of attitudes and another. / Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the dynamics of the post-war British peace movement. This examination will account for, and link the two distinct phases of activity which encompassed at their peaks, the periods of 1958 to 1960, and 1981 to 1983. The defence issue declined in salience in the intervening years and was largely ignored. The paper sets out to account for these cycles of protest by determining four key factors; the creation of a potential clientele, the symbolic meaning of the movement, the catalytic historical events and the incentives for mobilisation. Three theories are used to explain these elements. Inglehart's 'Post-Materialism' thesis is utilised to explain the presence of a potential clientele in terms of a new value orientation that is emerging among post-war generations due to the unprecedented affluence experienced in their formative years. Parkin's case study of the first phase of the movement provides the symbolic protest element, that explains the salience of the peace movement to these post-materialists. It also suggests that the clientele's interest in the issue lasts as long as the issue is significant and that as soon as it declines other issues claim their attentions and energies. The final vital element is explained by adapting Olson's cost and benefit 'Collective Action' theory to this non-economic case. This theory suggests that the prominent peace movement organisation, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, provided and distributed vital selective incentives that motivated the existing clientele into protest activity. However, once the costs of non-achievement of policy goals add to the costs of protest activity (which are being raised by the radicalisation of tactics) and the organisation becomes inefficient at distributing these selective goods, the incentive to participate is removed and activity begins to decline. The combination of these three theories with the impact of historical atmosphere and a catalytic event creates a coherent explanation of the movement in both phases. / M.A.

Despite historians describing the 1970s as a time of détente, both National Security Advisors that dominated America’s foreign policy pursued harsh stances against the Soviet Union. Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski sabotaged peace talks in order help the United States keep its edge against the other world superpower. Most historians point to the similarities between these two men, but what is most often left out of the narrative is that both men witnessed persecution at the hands of totalitarian governments: Kissinger by the Nazis and Brzezinski by both the Nazis and the Soviets. This influence is strong in their first works written at Harvard University, where they met Dr. Carl J. Friedrich and Hannah Arendt, both German émigrés. This paper will explore how European intellectuals, as well as their own European heritage, predisposed both Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski in their hawkish stances against the Soviet Union.

Honors Project--Smith College, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-119).

Nuclear weapons are the key element of the security policy of the United States of America since 1945. Since then, nuclear weapons and related nuclear threats were part of a social discourse of the United States. This thesis examined how these threats were socially constructed within the discourse by individual actors. Then, by discoursive analysis, the thesis investigated how the nuclear disarmament discourse responded to these identified threats. The study focused on how these identified threats and the nuclear disarmament discourse influenced each other in each period and how they impacted following periods. This diploma thesis examined the U.S. nuclear discourse while using a methodological framework of discoursive analysis. The diploma thesis operated with the theory of securitization and determined key moments, when particular threat was designated as existential to the security of the United States and when, eventually, this threat subsided.

The world has been concerned with the problem of nuclear disarmament since their first use in 1945, as they represent a consistent danger to all humankind. Effects of use or mere failure of technical facilities cannot be limited only to combatants. On the contrary, it is certain that in such case an overwhelming number of people would die and suffer. Apart from that, environment and infrastructure would be devastated, there would be serious climate changes and other catastrophical consequences. No country in the world is ready to face such a situation and to react adequately, especially when its economy has been severely harmed. Possible consequences of the use of nuclear weapons are addressed in the first chapter of this thesis. Second chapter explores already achieved level of legal regulation in areas of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. In the third chapter the process of creation of Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons from 2017, which aims at total elimination of nuclear weapons, is mapped in detail. Text of the Treaty itself including its flaws is analysed in chapter four. Following chapter five explains, why Treaty must be perceived "only" as a framework agreement, and goes through suggested provisions, which were not included in the final text. Chapter six is dealing with the matter of...

In 1936 the founders of PAX aimed at 'resistance to modern warfare on grounds of traditional morality'. Believing that 'just war' criteria could no longer be met, they called themselves pacifists. Although most members were Roman Catholic Pax did not claim to be a 'Catholic society' because the RC Church at that time took an opposing view, particularly of conscientious objection. Church authorities attempted to censor Pax literature and instructed clergy to resign from the society. Pax supported conscientious objectors during the Second World War. When membership declined afterwards it continued to publish the Pax Bulletin and to provide a forum where Catholics could debate theological and practical questions of war and peace. By the 1960s Pax had gained some distinguished sponsors and a branch in the United States - support which enabled it to influence debate at the Second Vatican Council in 1965. The Council endorsed the right to conscientious objection. In 1971 Pax merged with Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace organisation which began in France in 1944/45. This is the first detailed historical study of the Roman Catholic element in the British peace movement. The story of Pax demonstrates the part that even a small pressure group can play in changing public opinion through patient work. Eventually, despite apathy and opposition, Pax helped bring the RC Church to a recognition of the right to conscientious objection and played a crucial role in the development of a more widespread peace movement within the Church

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The diploma thesis named "Nixon-Brezhnev Summits in 1973 and 1974 in Czechoslovakian Press" deals with the presentation of summits between Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon in contemporary Czechoslovakian dailies. It analyzes texts published by the media concerning the meetings in 1973 and 1974 in Washington and Moscow in the set period of more than one month around the meetings. Not only does the thesis research the degree of bias of the media content due to the ideological inclination towards the Soviet Union. It also analyzes the way in which the media in Czechoslovakia dealt with the presentation of both the enemy superpowers as partners. The theory part provides in introduction of the topic and basic historical context of the events. Furthermore it characterizes the respective meetings and the analyzed dailies. The practical part covers detailed qualitative content analysis of the selected representatives of the contemporary Czechoslovakian press, namely Rudé právo, Svobodné slovo, Mladá fronta and Lidová demokracie. Then the thesis compares the presentation of the respective summits and attempts to find the causes of the differences and trends in the in the presentation. As an addition the thesis also provides a comparison with similar meetings between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev,...