The Ideological Nature of Nuclear Deterrence

This paper examines the ideological nature of nuclear deterrence. It does so by analyzing its substantive contents, demonstrating its internal contradictions and discrepancies, and by examining its impact on several aspects of the arms race. The technological condition of mutual assured destruction is seen as an accurate description of the capabilities of the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union. This reality, however, has given rise to an ideology of nuclear deterrence, which is used as a framework for understanding the global order and in turn fuels the arms race. Nuclear deterrence is a militarily and psychologically complex process that is poorly understood by the public, and left vaguely defined by the military-industrial-governmental defense elite. Evidence of the ideological nature of deterrence is contained in its many internal contradictions, and the discrepancies between officials' use of deterrence vis-à-vis the public and amongst themselves. Further demonstration of its ideological nature resides in the very nature of deterrence itself: it incorporates nonverifiable assertions as cognitive beliefs, and does not permit the questioning of its tenets. The paper concludes with a brief review of some of the consequences of reliance on deterrence in the areas of: our inability to control the arms race, the lack of defensive capabilities, the primacy of the iron triangle, and the seeds of self-destruction inherent in deterrence ideology

Arms race · Criminology · Deterrence theory · Elite · Ideology · Law and economics · Nuclear ethics · Nuclear weapon · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense

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