The Sasakawa Peace Foundation has published a book "
The End of Nuclear Forgetting: Revival of Nuclear Weapons" based on a
project conducted during 2015-2017.
Since the end of the Cold War, the likelihood of nuclear war among major powers has decreased. The expectations of reducing the roles of nuclear weapons were increasing. Additionally, the discussion on the roles of nuclear weapons in the security domain seemed to have terminated, at least among Western countries. The words “nuclear forgetting” describe this termination.
In this research, the group analyzed the roles of nuclear weapons in the security environment of the 21st century and the diversity of nuclear deterrence and further discussed the trends of nuclear strategy among major powers—such as the U.S. and Russia; the roles of nuclear deterrence at the regional level; and the implications of technological evolution. We aimed at comprehensively addressing the issues of nuclear weapons in a changing world without considering the issue of nuclear deterrence as a taboo in Japan. It is important to capture the changes of the times and understand the different roles and meanings of nuclear weapons, which change depending on the region and target, instead of simply applying Cold War deterrence theory to the current security environment. It is also critical not to divide the discussions of security/deterrence and disarmament/arms control as separate topics.
Japan-U.S. Program | japan-us@spf.or.jp | Aya Murata