Envisioning Global Security Without Reliance on Nuclear Deterrence
This project seeks to identify the conditions necessary to establish a global security system without nuclear weapons.
This project aims to identify potential alternatives to the role nuclear weapons currently play in regional and global security architectures, outlining the steps that would be necessary to develop and implement these alternatives and assessing the consequences of doing so.
A collaboration between RUSI and Hiroshima Prefecture / the Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe), this project will convene regional working groups where selected experts will respond to the project’s research questions. A report from the working group meetings will inform the convening of a capstone in-person conference in Japan in 2024.
Project sponsor
Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe)
HOPe is the promotion organization for the Hiroshima Initiative, a new proposal to achieve a peaceful world without nuclear weapons.
Find out more
Aims and objectives
The prominence of nuclear weapons in global security is currently increasing. Russia has invaded its neighbour while making references to the possibility of nuclear use. China’s nuclear arsenal is growing and diversifying, leading many to conclude that its traditional nuclear posture is changing. North Korea is developing an increasingly sophisticated nuclear arsenal. Hostilities between India and Pakistan continue to pose risks of nuclear use. NATO members are taking steps to strengthen allied nuclear deterrence and to connect nuclear planning more closely with conventional military planning. US allies in East Asia are increasing their reliance on US extended nuclear deterrence guarantees.
Recognising that many leaders, officials, analysts and members of the public in nuclear-armed and nuclear-umbrella states regard nuclear weapons as a central part of their countries’ security, this project aims to identify alternative instruments and structures that would make a nuclear weapons-free world possible.