Summary
Why have nuclear weapons not been used since Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945? Nina Tannenwald disputes the conventional answer of ‘deterrence’ in favour of what she calls a nuclear taboo – a widespread inhibition on using nuclear weapons – which has arisen in global politics. Drawing on newly released archival sources, Tannenwald traces the rise of the nuclear taboo, the forces that produced it, and its influence, particularly on US leaders. She analyzes four critical instances where US leaders considered using nuclear weapons (Japan 1945, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War 1991) and examines how the nuclear taboo has repeatedly dissuaded US and other world leaders from resorting to these ‘ultimate weapons’. Through a systematic analysis, Tannenwald challenges conventional conceptions of deterrence and offers a compelling argument on the moral bases of nuclear restraint as well as an important insight into how nuclear war can be avoided in the future.
Country or Region: Japan
Reiss, Mitchell
Summary
Conventional wisdom has long assumed that nuclear proliferation is inevitable. But as the author points out, the avowed nuclear powers have remained restricted to what he calls “the original five”: the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Britain and China. In this well-researched study, Reiss isolates the sources of restraint in six countries capable of building and stockpiling a nuclear arsenal: Sweden, South Korea, Japan, Israel, South Africa and India. These restraints include domestic pressures, bilateral incentives and the consensus against nuclear weapons. The author provides a historical overview of nonproliferation, the role the United States has played in the six case-history countries and clarifies a little-understood phenomenon he describes as “threatening to go nuclear, without actually doing so.” Reiss has served both on the National Security Council and in the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Cirincione, Joseph, Jon B. Wolfsthal, and Miriam Rajkumar
Summary
Deadly Arsenals provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive assessment available on global proliferation dangers, with a critical assessment of international enforcement efforts. An invaluable resource for academics, policymakers, students, and the media, this atlas includes strategic and historical analysis; maps, charts, and graphs of the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missile delivery systems; descriptions of the weapons and regimes—and policies to control them; and data on countries that have, want, or have given up weapons of mass destruction. The new edition addresses the recent, dramatic developments in Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and the nuclear black market, analyzing strategic and policy implications. A Choice outstanding academic title from one of the premier nonproliferation research teams.
Cirincione, Joseph
Summary
Since their inception, nuclear weapons have multiplied at an alarming rate, leaving everyone from policymakers to concerned citizens wondering what it will take to slow, stop, or even reverse their spread. With clarity and expertise, Joseph Cirincione presents an even-handed look at the history of nuclear proliferation and an optimistic vision of its future, providing a comprehensive survey of the wide range of critical perspectives.
Cirincione begins with the first atomic discoveries of the 1930s and covers the history of their growth all the way to current crisis with Iran. He unravels the science, strategy, and politics that have fueled the development of nuclear stockpiles and increased the chance of a nuclear terrorist attack. He also explains why many nations choose not to pursue nuclear weapons and pulls from this the outlines of a solution to the world’s proliferation problem: a balance of force and diplomacy, enforcement and engagement that yields a steady decrease in these deadly arsenals.
Though nuclear weapons have not been used in war since August 1945, there is no guarantee this good fortune will continue. A unique blend of history, theory, and security analysis, Bomb Scare is an engaging text that not only supplies the general reader and student with a clear understanding of this issue but also provides a set of tools policymakers and scholars can use to prevent the cataclysmic consequences of another nuclear attack.
Thompson, Jeffrey, and Benjamin Self, eds
Summary
Japan’s Nuclear Option: Security, Politics, and Policy in the 21st Century is the culmination of a joint US-Japan task force assembled to examine the prospect of a nuclear Japan, a notion fueled by burgeoning Japanese nationalism and the prospect of a nuclear North Korea. Led by Stimson senior associate Benjamin Self and Jeffrey Thompson, the task force included specialists on Japanese domestic politics, East Asian regional security, and nuclear non-proliferation. Participants approached Japan’s nuclear options from three perspectives – Japan’s security, political, and policy contexts – and concluded that Japan is unlikely to “go nuclear” in the foreseeable future.
Samuels, Richard J.
Summary
On March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by the shockwaves of a 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake originating less than 50 miles off its eastern coastline. The most powerful earthquake to have hit Japan in recorded history, it produced a devastating tsunami with waves reaching heights of over 130 feet that in turn caused an unprecedented multireactor meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. This triple catastrophe claimed almost 20,000 lives, destroyed whole towns, and will ultimately cost hundreds of billions of dollars for reconstruction.
In 3.11, Richard Samuels offers the first broad scholarly assessment of the disaster’s impact on Japan’s government and society. The events of March 2011 occurred after two decades of social and economic malaise—as well as considerable political and administrative dysfunction at both the national and local levels—and resulted in national soul-searching. Political reformers saw in the tragedy cause for hope: an opportunity for Japan to remake itself. Samuels explores Japan’s post-earthquake actions in three key sectors: national security, energy policy, and local governance. For some reformers, 3.11 was a warning for Japan to overhaul its priorities and political processes. For others, it was a once-in-a-millennium event; they cautioned that while national policy could be improved, dramatic changes would be counterproductive. Still others declared that the catastrophe demonstrated the need to return to an idealized past and rebuild what has been lost to modernity and globalization.
Samuels chronicles the battles among these perspectives and analyzes various attempts to mobilize popular support by political entrepreneurs who repeatedly invoked three powerfully affective themes: leadership, community, and vulnerability. Assessing reformers’ successes and failures as they used the catastrophe to push their particular agendas—and by examining the earthquake and its aftermath alongside prior disasters in Japan, China, and the United States—Samuels outlines Japan’s rhetoric of crisis and shows how it has come to define post-3.11 politics and public policy.
DiFilippo, Anthony, ed
Summary
This book explores the apparent contradictions behind Japan’s stated goal of nuclear disarmament and its tacit acceptance of being protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
Birmingham, Lucy, and David McNeill
From the publisher: Blending history, science, and gripping storytelling, Strong in the Rain brings the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 and its immediate aftermath to life through the eyes of the men and women who experienced it. Following the narratives of six individuals, the book traces the shape of a disaster and the heroics it prompted, including that of David Chumreonlert, a Texan with Thai roots, trapped in his school’s gymnasium with hundreds of students and teachers as it begins to flood, and Taro Watanabe, who thought nothing of returning to the Fukushima plant to fight the nuclear disaster, despite the effects that he knew would stay with him for the rest of his life. This is a beautifully written and moving account of how the Japanese experienced one of the worst earthquakes in history and endured its horrific consequences.
Richard C. Bush III and Jonathan D. Pollack
Abstract
This article published by The Brookings Institution examines how Pyongyang’s 2013 nuclear test affects North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile capability, policymakers in Japan and the United States, and new leadership in South Korea and China.
Campbell, Kurt M., Robert J. Einhorn, and Mitchell B. Reiss, eds
Summary
Includes chapters on Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. From the publisher: More than half a century after the advent of the nuclear age, is the world approaching a tipping point that will unleash an epidemic of nuclear proliferation? Today many of the building blocks of a nuclear arsenal — scientific and engineering expertise, precision machine tools, software, design information — are more readily available than ever before. The nuclear pretensions of so-called rogue states and terrorist organizations are much discussed. But how firm is the resolve of those countries that historically have chosen to forswear nuclear weapons? A combination of changes in the international environment could set off a domino effect, with countries scrambling to develop nuclear weapons so as not to be left behind –or to develop nuclear “hedge” capacities that would allow them to build nuclear arsenals relatively quickly, if necessary. The Nuclear Tipping Point examines the factors, both domestic and transnational, that shape nuclear policy. Case studies of eight long-term stalwarts of the nonproliferation regime –Egypt, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Syria, Turkey, and Taiwan –flesh out this framework and show how even these countries might be pushed over the edge of a nuclear tipping point. The authors offer prescriptions that would both prevent such countries from reconsidering their nuclear option and avert proliferation by others. The stakes are enormous and success is far from assured. To keep the tipping point beyond reach, the authors argue, the international community will have to act with unity, imagination, and strength, and Washington’s leadership will be essential.
Ferguson, Charles D
Summary
Originally perceived as a cheap and plentiful source of power, the commercial use of nuclear energy has been controversial for decades. Worries about the dangers that nuclear plants and their radioactive waste posed to nearby communities grew over time, and plant construction in the United States virtually died after the early 1980s. The 1986 disaster at Chernobyl only reinforced nuclear power’s negative image. Yet in the decade prior to the Japanese nuclear crisis of 2011, sentiment about nuclear power underwent a marked change. The alarming acceleration of global warming due to the burning of fossil fuels and concern about dependence on foreign fuel has led policymakers, climate scientists, and energy experts to look once again at nuclear power as a source of energy. In this accessible overview, Charles D. Ferguson provides an authoritative account of the key facts about nuclear energy. What is the origin of nuclear energy? What countries use commercial nuclear power, and how much electricity do they obtain from it? How can future nuclear power plants be made safer? What can countries do to protect their nuclear facilities from military attacks? How hazardous is radioactive waste? Is nuclear energy a renewable energy source? Featuring a discussion of the recent nuclear crisis in Japan and its ramifications, Ferguson addresses these questions and more in a book that is essential for anyone looking to learn more about this important issue.
Sato, Yoichiro, and Keiko Hirata
Summary
This edited volume puts forth a theoretically and empirically rigorous analysis of Japanese foreign policy. It explains the impact of norms on Japan’s foreign policy behavior, drawing on three major paradigms of international relations scholarship—constructivism, realism, and liberalism. Through nine case studies on Japan’s security, economic, and environmental policies, this book examines how norms do or do not guide Japanese foreign policy and how they interact with interests and power. In doing so, this book explores whether the rationalist and constructivist schools of thought are potentially complementary or mutually exclusive.
Amako, Satoshi
This paper examines China’s role in the institutionalisation of regional cooperation in Asia. The author argues that geostrategic considerations on the part of China will give Japan a key role in this process.
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