The United States after unipolarity: Obama’s nuclear weapons policy in a changing world

摘要

The role that nuclear weapons should play in US security policy has divided analysts andudpolicymakers since “the bomb” was first used in 1945, and has been a particularly importantudquestion facing US presidents since the end of the Cold War. Essentially this is because in theudpost-Cold War world it has become clear that the US no longer needs the many thousands ofudnuclear warheads originally intended to deter the Soviet Union in order to deal with the newudtypes of threats – from rogue states or even terrorists – that currently dominate US securityudthinking. In fact, many believe that retaining large stockpiles of nuclear weapons worldwideudwill increase the likelihood that nuclear weapons technology will proliferate to other actorsudhostile to the US around the globe, which may one day be used. However, this has not translateduddirectly into coherent policy towards nuclear reductions, or indeed created unambiguousudpolitical support for nuclear elimination. George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bushudall made steps in this direction – with varying degrees of success, and with different politicaludaims in mind – but Barack Obama is the first post-Cold War US president to truly embrace theudissue of nuclear abolition, and to make reducing US reliance on such weapons a central priority.