Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, coupled with its nuclear deterrent as a coercive tool, has led some experts to declare the world nuclear order shattered, a perception reinforced by China's strategic rise. The article, however, challenges this view, asserting that a "world nuclear order" exists primarily in the minds of those who postulate it, being more a continuous "order in search of itself" over the past 80 years.
Historically, nuclear weapons introduced strategic imbalance but also the paradoxical objective of war avoidance. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) exemplifies this "order" as a mechanism for maintaining the privilege and domination of nuclear weapon states. Past crises, from Cold War missile gaps and the Berlin crisis to post-Cold War proliferation fears and nuclear terrorism, consistently highlight perceived "disorder" that paradoxically drives the dynamics of order. The author concludes that nuclear order is not a fixed legal or strategic reality but a fluctuating political objective, continually invented and dependent on player cooperation.
No comments:
Post a Comment