Skip to main content
Controversies in Military Ethics <br/>& Security Policy logoControversies in Military Ethics
& Security Policy
Download E-Journal PDF here

Picture: flickr/Pierre J

The Core Question: Nuclear Deterrence in the Focus of Peace Ethics and Security Policy

“Our world is marked by a perverse dichotomy that tries to defend and ensure stability and peace through a false sense of security sustained by a mentality of fear and mistrust.” With these words, spoken in Nagasaki at the end of 2019, Pope Francis once again condemned the system of nuclear deterrence. Peace and international stability cannot be built on the threat of total annihilation, he said. By taking the view that not only the use of nuclear weapons but also threatening their use and even their possession cannot be justified, the pope has set a new course in the Church’s peace ethics ...

Read the editorial

The End of the "Interlude" – Nuclear Deterrence in the Light of Roman Catholic Social Teaching

Heinz-Günther Stobbe

Pope Francis’ comprehensive rejection of nuclear weapons comes as anything but a surprise

Summary Full article

Waiting for Armageddon: Theological and Ethical Aspects Of Nuclear Deterrence

Drew Christiansen SJ

The signs of the times permit no other conclusion: nuclear deterrence is no longer justifiable

Summary Full article

The Relevance of the Heidelberg Theses today

Ines-Jacqueline Werkner

Contrary to the church mainstream, nuclear deterrence can still be conditionally tolerated today

Summary Full article

Exposing Flaws in the Logic(s) of Nuclear Deterrence as an International Security Strategy – a Feminist Postcolonial Perspective

Madita Standke-Erdmann
Victoria Scheyer

Nuclear deterrence secures an international order based on racialized and gendered inequality

Summary Full article

We Are the Bomb: Opaque Financial Flows and Unwitting Involvement in Nuclear Armament

Robin Jaspert

Many citizens finance nuclear armaments companies without knowing it

Summary Full article

Extended Nuclear Deterrence and Participation: Overcome Together, Don’t Go It Alone

Wolfgang Richter

To overcome the nuclear escalation logic, Germany's solo efforts are not helpful 

Summary Full article

Nuclear Arms Control, Disarmament and Nonproliferation Regimes in Deep Crisis

Tom Sauer

If arms control can resume between Russia and the West, the process can be extended to other nuclear-armed states later on

Summary Full article

"No Way Out": Nuclear Weapons Remain An Important Factor in International Politics

Michael Rühle

A renunciation of nuclear weapons would not make the world a more peaceful place

Summary Full article

Russian Nuclear Weapons: Reason or Feelings?

Konstantin Bogdanov

Russia relies on nuclear deterrence for understandable reasons, but is not a gambler

Summary Full article

China’s Nuclear Strategy in a New Geopolitical Environment

Sven Bernhard Gareis

China is modernizing its arsenal to maintain its defensive nuclear strategy

Summary Full article

Special: Nuclear Weapons, Service and Conscience

Military Personnel in Conflicts of Conscience: Between Church Idealism and Political Realism

Markus Bentler

So far, there has been no avoiding the nuclear deterrent - with the right intention of maintaining peace

Full article

The Nuclear Question: Pious Hopes and Real Opportunities – Selected (Not just Pop-Culture) Aspects from a Military Chaplain in the Field

Burkhard Bleul

We should work on the nuclear question, not despair over it!

Full article