| JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Bologna Center |
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17:30, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 - AUDITORIUM Rational Deterrence Theory: Is it Rational? Is it a Theory? A Two-part Lecture Series. Lecture 2
Kenneth N. Waltz
Ford Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley and Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University
What have nuclear weapons done to the world? How have nuclear weapons turned military maxims upside down? Should we follow the likes of former senator Sam Nunn, Henry Kissinger, and President Obama in seeking to rid the world of nuclear weapons? Would a world without nuclear weapons be preferable to the world we have now? In the late 1960’s, both Italy and the United States signed onto the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, asserting “that the proliferation of nuclear weapons would seriously enhance the danger of nuclear war,” and “calling for the conclusion of an agreement on the prevention of wider dissemination of nuclear weapons.” What have nuclear weapons done to the world? How have nuclear weapons turned military maxims upside down? Should we follow the likes of Senator Sam Nunn, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and President Barack Obama in seeking to rid the world of nuclear weapons? Should we fear the rapid spread of nuclear technology around the globe? Would a world without nuclear weapons be preferable to the world we have now? I argue that this is not the case—that the slow and measured spread of nuclear weapons will increase national security and that their presence makes war less likely. KENNETH N. WALTZ Kenneth N. Waltz, Ford Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, has also taught at Swarthmore and Brandeis, and now is Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University. Waltz is one of the most prominent scholars of international relations alive today and is one of the founders of neorealism, or structural realism, in international relations theory and the author of numerous books including Man, the State, and War (1959); Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics (1967); Theory of International Politics (1979); and The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed (2nd ed., 2002). Waltz is a former President of the American Political Science Association and a recipient of its James Madison Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Political Science. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Waltz, who is also a veteran, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1957. |