Jacques E C Hymans
Biographic Data
| ID | 1136803 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jacques E C Hymans |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jacques E C |
| FAMILY NAME | Hymans |
| SIGNATURE | HYMANS J E C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southern California |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3532-9490 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 163 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Bomb as God
"Nuclear embeddedness" refers to a state's persistent failure to reconsider its possession of a nuclear arsenal. The sedimentation of the metaphor of the Bomb as God in a state's political culture consolidates "nuclear embeddedness." Because metaphorizing something as God puts it beyond even boundedly rational calculation, the metaphor of the Bomb as God effectively blocks a state from seeing its way clear to nuclear renunciation. The article pro…
To drill or not to drill
Geothermal energy is an important resource in the fight against climate change, but local siting issues often stand in the way. We analyze the socioeconomic determinants of the location of all geothermal drilling explorations in Japan from 1975 to 2014. Statistical analysis based on an original dataset shows that (1) municipalities with more hot springs inns than other municipalities are less likely to have a geothermal exploration, and (2) munic…
Losing Steam
Japan has long faced energy insecurity due to its extreme dependence on energy imports. Why, then, has Japan failed to exploit its huge domestic geothermal energy resources, which could provide up to 10% of the country’s electricity needs? This article argues that local interests empowered by national policy have been the main obstacle to expansion of geothermal power production in Japan since the 1970s. The article substantiates its claim with a…
Introduction to the symposium. The concept of protean power
This introductory article to the symposium first presents and then critiques the protean power concept of the Katzenstein and Seybert volume. Although the volume underestimates the value of rational choice models to explain some cases of protean power, it rightly demonstrates that our conventional theoretical toolkit insufficiently anticipates many such disruptions. Drawing on the examples of post-World War I veterans' movements and India's 1998 …
The diffusion of international norms of banknote iconography
Japan
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s northeast coast triggered a tsunami that killed more than 20,000 people, displaced 600,000, and caused billions of dollars in damage as well as a nuclear meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Japan, the world’s third largest economy, was already grappling with recovery from both its own economic recession of the 1990s and the global recession following the US-driven fina…
Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era
No cause for panic
This paper provides a brief overview of the progress of political science research on the causes of nuclear weapons proliferation and non-proliferation. Based on the findings of that literature, the author draws out some general lessons for today’s policymakers
The Threat of Nuclear Proliferation
Nuclear weapons proliferation is at the top of the news these days. Most recent reports have focused on the nuclear efforts of Iran and North Korea, but they also typically warn that those two acute diplomatic headaches may merely be the harbingers of a much darker future. Indeed, foreign policy sages often claim that what worries them most is not the small arsenals that Tehran and Pyongyang could build for themselves, but rather the potential th…
Veto Players, Nuclear Energy, and Nonproliferation
The basic insight of the “veto players” literature from comparative politics—the more veto players, the more policy rigidity—has been nearly absent from the study of nuclear proliferation. Yet, when states need mutual agreement among a large number of veto players, this greatly lengthens the odds against radical nuclear policy change. The veto players perspective helps to explain the historical resilience of Japan's fifty-year pursuit of a comple…
Proliferation Implications of Civil Nuclear Cooperation
Programs of international civil nuclear cooperation—of “Atoms for Peace”—have come under growing criticism for unintentionally fostering nuclear weapons proliferation in developing countries. However, drawing on the literature on international technology transfer and on Albert Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, and loyalty, this article argues that Atoms for Peace efforts may often seriously hamper developing countries’ nuclear weapons ambitions …
The arrival of psychological constructivism
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
East is East, and West is West? Currency iconography as nation-branding in the wider Europe
India's Soft Power and Vulnerability
Britain and Hiroshima
Most historical accounts of the atomic bombings of Japan show little interest in Britain's explicit authorization for the attacks. Meanwhile, the few historians who have attempted to explain it rely on a unitary, rational actor model of the British state that is misleading. This article demonstrates that high-ranking British officials became anxious early on about the strategic consequences of a peremptory use of the new weapon. Therefore, especi…
Assessing North Korean Nuclear Intentions and Capacities
This article develops a novel assessment of the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Using a theory-driven approach rooted in comparative foreign policy analysis, the article undermines two common assumptions about the DPRK nuclear threat: first, that the North Korean leadership's nuclear intentions are a measured response to the external environment and, second, that the DPRK has developed enough technical capacity to go…
The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation
Dozens of states have long been capable of acquiring nuclear weapons, yet only a few have actually done so. Jacques E. C. Hymans finds that the key to this surprising historical pattern lies not in externally imposed constraints, but rather in state leaders' conceptions of the national identity. Synthesizing a wide range of scholarship from the humanities and social sciences to experimental psychology and neuroscience, Hymans builds a rigorous mo…
Theories of Nuclear Proliferation
Traditionally, American thinking on proliferation—whether by scholars or practitioners—has been dominated by the realist camp. According to this view, nuclear weapons are very valuable to states, so only strong supply-side control measures can stop the world's natural tendency toward rampant proliferation. However, realist intuitions have proven a very poor guide to the historical realities of nuclear proliferation. Therefore the idealist camp, w…
The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation
International Patterns in National Identity Content
The present article suggests that expressions of Japanese identity may be more malleable and receptive to international influences than is usually thought. Through a study of the evolution of images printed on Japanese banknotes and of the political processes behind that evolution, the article shows Japanese state elites consciously following international models of identity content. In particular, it describes the shifts in Japanese banknote ico…
The Changing Color of Money
This article investigates currency iconography as an indicator of the content of collective identities in Europe. Using an original database of the human figures on European paper money since the 19th century, the article finds a combination of iconographic similarity across space and iconographic difference across time. This finding suggests that rather than using the currency to indoctrinate the public with a set of specifically national values…
To Go or Not to Go
Ever since the destruction of Hiroshima in 1945, states all over the world have been faced with the issue of whether or not to acquire the ‘absolute weapon’ for themselves. The question of ‘going nuclear’ has been especially acute on the Korean peninsula, with its history of conflict, division and great power meddling. Has any one of the two Koreas, or both, ever attempted to acquire nuclear weapons? Did either of them decide to abandon that ques…
Of gauchos and gringos
Black, French, and African
The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation
Dozens of states have long been capable of acquiring nuclear weapons, yet only a few have actually done so. Jacques E. C. Hymans finds that the key to this surprising historical pattern lies not in externally imposed constraints, but rather in state leaders' conceptions of the national identity. Synthesizing a wide range of scholarship from the humanities and social sciences to experimental psychology and neuroscience, Hymans builds a rigorous mo…
The Changing Color of Money
This article investigates currency iconography as an indicator of the content of collective identities in Europe. Using an original database of the human figures on European paper money since the 19th century, the article finds a combination of iconographic similarity across space and iconographic difference across time. This finding suggests that rather than using the currency to indoctrinate the public with a set of specifically national values…
Veto Players, Nuclear Energy, and Nonproliferation
The basic insight of the “veto players” literature from comparative politics—the more veto players, the more policy rigidity—has been nearly absent from the study of nuclear proliferation. Yet, when states need mutual agreement among a large number of veto players, this greatly lengthens the odds against radical nuclear policy change. The veto players perspective helps to explain the historical resilience of Japan's fifty-year pursuit of a comple…
Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era
East is East, and West is West? Currency iconography as nation-branding in the wider Europe
Assessing North Korean Nuclear Intentions and Capacities
This article develops a novel assessment of the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Using a theory-driven approach rooted in comparative foreign policy analysis, the article undermines two common assumptions about the DPRK nuclear threat: first, that the North Korean leadership's nuclear intentions are a measured response to the external environment and, second, that the DPRK has developed enough technical capacity to go…
The arrival of psychological constructivism
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
International Patterns in National Identity Content
The present article suggests that expressions of Japanese identity may be more malleable and receptive to international influences than is usually thought. Through a study of the evolution of images printed on Japanese banknotes and of the political processes behind that evolution, the article shows Japanese state elites consciously following international models of identity content. In particular, it describes the shifts in Japanese banknote ico…
Of gauchos and gringos
The Bomb as God
"Nuclear embeddedness" refers to a state's persistent failure to reconsider its possession of a nuclear arsenal. The sedimentation of the metaphor of the Bomb as God in a state's political culture consolidates "nuclear embeddedness." Because metaphorizing something as God puts it beyond even boundedly rational calculation, the metaphor of the Bomb as God effectively blocks a state from seeing its way clear to nuclear renunciation. The article pro…
Proliferation Implications of Civil Nuclear Cooperation
Programs of international civil nuclear cooperation—of “Atoms for Peace”—have come under growing criticism for unintentionally fostering nuclear weapons proliferation in developing countries. However, drawing on the literature on international technology transfer and on Albert Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, and loyalty, this article argues that Atoms for Peace efforts may often seriously hamper developing countries’ nuclear weapons ambitions …
India's Soft Power and Vulnerability
The Threat of Nuclear Proliferation
Nuclear weapons proliferation is at the top of the news these days. Most recent reports have focused on the nuclear efforts of Iran and North Korea, but they also typically warn that those two acute diplomatic headaches may merely be the harbingers of a much darker future. Indeed, foreign policy sages often claim that what worries them most is not the small arsenals that Tehran and Pyongyang could build for themselves, but rather the potential th…
Britain and Hiroshima
Most historical accounts of the atomic bombings of Japan show little interest in Britain's explicit authorization for the attacks. Meanwhile, the few historians who have attempted to explain it rely on a unitary, rational actor model of the British state that is misleading. This article demonstrates that high-ranking British officials became anxious early on about the strategic consequences of a peremptory use of the new weapon. Therefore, especi…
Black, French, and African
To Go or Not to Go
Ever since the destruction of Hiroshima in 1945, states all over the world have been faced with the issue of whether or not to acquire the ‘absolute weapon’ for themselves. The question of ‘going nuclear’ has been especially acute on the Korean peninsula, with its history of conflict, division and great power meddling. Has any one of the two Koreas, or both, ever attempted to acquire nuclear weapons? Did either of them decide to abandon that ques…
Of gauchos and gringos
The Changing Color of Money
This article investigates currency iconography as an indicator of the content of collective identities in Europe. Using an original database of the human figures on European paper money since the 19th century, the article finds a combination of iconographic similarity across space and iconographic difference across time. This finding suggests that rather than using the currency to indoctrinate the public with a set of specifically national values…
International Patterns in National Identity Content
The present article suggests that expressions of Japanese identity may be more malleable and receptive to international influences than is usually thought. Through a study of the evolution of images printed on Japanese banknotes and of the political processes behind that evolution, the article shows Japanese state elites consciously following international models of identity content. In particular, it describes the shifts in Japanese banknote ico…
The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation
Dozens of states have long been capable of acquiring nuclear weapons, yet only a few have actually done so. Jacques E. C. Hymans finds that the key to this surprising historical pattern lies not in externally imposed constraints, but rather in state leaders' conceptions of the national identity. Synthesizing a wide range of scholarship from the humanities and social sciences to experimental psychology and neuroscience, Hymans builds a rigorous mo…
Theories of Nuclear Proliferation
Traditionally, American thinking on proliferation—whether by scholars or practitioners—has been dominated by the realist camp. According to this view, nuclear weapons are very valuable to states, so only strong supply-side control measures can stop the world's natural tendency toward rampant proliferation. However, realist intuitions have proven a very poor guide to the historical realities of nuclear proliferation. Therefore the idealist camp, w…
The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation
Assessing North Korean Nuclear Intentions and Capacities
This article develops a novel assessment of the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Using a theory-driven approach rooted in comparative foreign policy analysis, the article undermines two common assumptions about the DPRK nuclear threat: first, that the North Korean leadership's nuclear intentions are a measured response to the external environment and, second, that the DPRK has developed enough technical capacity to go…
India's Soft Power and Vulnerability
Britain and Hiroshima
Most historical accounts of the atomic bombings of Japan show little interest in Britain's explicit authorization for the attacks. Meanwhile, the few historians who have attempted to explain it rely on a unitary, rational actor model of the British state that is misleading. This article demonstrates that high-ranking British officials became anxious early on about the strategic consequences of a peremptory use of the new weapon. Therefore, especi…
The arrival of psychological constructivism
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
East is East, and West is West? Currency iconography as nation-branding in the wider Europe
Veto Players, Nuclear Energy, and Nonproliferation
The basic insight of the “veto players” literature from comparative politics—the more veto players, the more policy rigidity—has been nearly absent from the study of nuclear proliferation. Yet, when states need mutual agreement among a large number of veto players, this greatly lengthens the odds against radical nuclear policy change. The veto players perspective helps to explain the historical resilience of Japan's fifty-year pursuit of a comple…
Proliferation Implications of Civil Nuclear Cooperation
Programs of international civil nuclear cooperation—of “Atoms for Peace”—have come under growing criticism for unintentionally fostering nuclear weapons proliferation in developing countries. However, drawing on the literature on international technology transfer and on Albert Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, and loyalty, this article argues that Atoms for Peace efforts may often seriously hamper developing countries’ nuclear weapons ambitions …
The Threat of Nuclear Proliferation
Nuclear weapons proliferation is at the top of the news these days. Most recent reports have focused on the nuclear efforts of Iran and North Korea, but they also typically warn that those two acute diplomatic headaches may merely be the harbingers of a much darker future. Indeed, foreign policy sages often claim that what worries them most is not the small arsenals that Tehran and Pyongyang could build for themselves, but rather the potential th…
No cause for panic
This paper provides a brief overview of the progress of political science research on the causes of nuclear weapons proliferation and non-proliferation. Based on the findings of that literature, the author draws out some general lessons for today’s policymakers
Japan
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s northeast coast triggered a tsunami that killed more than 20,000 people, displaced 600,000, and caused billions of dollars in damage as well as a nuclear meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Japan, the world’s third largest economy, was already grappling with recovery from both its own economic recession of the 1990s and the global recession following the US-driven fina…
Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era
The diffusion of international norms of banknote iconography
Introduction to the symposium. The concept of protean power
This introductory article to the symposium first presents and then critiques the protean power concept of the Katzenstein and Seybert volume. Although the volume underestimates the value of rational choice models to explain some cases of protean power, it rightly demonstrates that our conventional theoretical toolkit insufficiently anticipates many such disruptions. Drawing on the examples of post-World War I veterans' movements and India's 1998 …
Losing Steam
Japan has long faced energy insecurity due to its extreme dependence on energy imports. Why, then, has Japan failed to exploit its huge domestic geothermal energy resources, which could provide up to 10% of the country’s electricity needs? This article argues that local interests empowered by national policy have been the main obstacle to expansion of geothermal power production in Japan since the 1970s. The article substantiates its claim with a…
To drill or not to drill
Geothermal energy is an important resource in the fight against climate change, but local siting issues often stand in the way. We analyze the socioeconomic determinants of the location of all geothermal drilling explorations in Japan from 1975 to 2014. Statistical analysis based on an original dataset shows that (1) municipalities with more hot springs inns than other municipalities are less likely to have a geothermal exploration, and (2) munic…
The Bomb as God
"Nuclear embeddedness" refers to a state's persistent failure to reconsider its possession of a nuclear arsenal. The sedimentation of the metaphor of the Bomb as God in a state's political culture consolidates "nuclear embeddedness." Because metaphorizing something as God puts it beyond even boundedly rational calculation, the metaphor of the Bomb as God effectively blocks a state from seeing its way clear to nuclear renunciation. The article pro…
Political science (21 works) · Law (18 works) · Politics (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Nuclear weapon (11 works) · History (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Political economy (10 works) · Nuclear Issues and Defense (9 works) · Economics (7 works)