Performing Nuclear Weapons - Paul Beaumont

Performing Nuclear Weapons

How Britain Made Trident Make Sense

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
XV, 242 Seiten
2021 | 1st ed. 2021
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-030-67575-2 (ISBN)
128,39 inkl. MwSt
This book investigates the UK's nuclear weapon policy, focusing in particular on how consecutive governments have managed to maintain the Trident weapon system. The question of why states maintain nuclear weapons typically receives short shrift: its security, of course. The international is a perilous place, and nuclear weapons represent the ultimate self-help device. This book seeks to unsettle this complacency by re-conceptualizing nuclear weapon-armed states as nuclear regimes of truth and refocusing on the processes through which governments produce and maintain country-specific discourses that enable their continued possession of nuclear weapons. Illustrating the value of studying nuclear regimes of truth, the book conducts a discourse analysis of the UK's nuclear weapons policy between 1980 and 2010. In so doing, it documents the sheer imagination and discursive labour required to sustain the positive value of nuclear weapons within British politics, as well as providing grounds for optimism regarding the value of the recent treaty banning nuclear weapons.

lt;p>Paul Beaumont is Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations/International Environmental Studies and Development from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He has published peer-reviewed articles in Third World Quarterly, Global Affairs, and New Perspectives, policy-orientated research on behalf of the International Law and Policy Institute, and several op-eds in Klassekampen and Aftenposten.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Problematizing the Maintenance of Nuclear Weapons.- Chapter 2. Explaining Britain's Bomb.- Chapter 3. Nuclear Regimes of Truth.- Chapter 4. Constructing the Nuclear Weapon Problem.- Chapter 5. Blair's Nuclear Regime of Truth.- Chapter 6. Thatcher's Nuclear Regime of Truth.- Chapter 7. Conclusion: Breaking Down Britain's Nuclear Regime of Truth & Putting it Back Together Again.

"The book draws inspiration from the Foucauldian concept of 'regimes of truth' and analyses ways in which British governments sought to gain the interpretive primacy over the pro-nuclear deterrent narrative. ... By approaching the British nuclear deterrent via its retention and through discourse analysis, Performing Nuclear Weapons makes an original contribution to the existing research on nuclear weapons ... ." (Christoph Laucht, Journal of Peace Research, February 4, 2022)

“The book draws inspiration from the Foucauldian concept of 'regimes of truth' and analyses ways in which British governments sought to gain the interpretive primacy over the pro-nuclear deterrent narrative. ... By approaching the British nuclear deterrent via its retention and through discourse analysis, Performing Nuclear Weapons makes an original contribution to the existing research on nuclear weapons … .” (Christoph Laucht, Journal of Peace Research, February 4, 2022)

Erscheinungsdatum
Reihe/Serie Palgrave Studies in International Relations
Zusatzinfo XV, 242 p. 1 illus.
Verlagsort Cham
Sprache englisch
Maße 148 x 210 mm
Gewicht 438 g
Themenwelt Sozialwissenschaften Politik / Verwaltung Europäische / Internationale Politik
Sozialwissenschaften Politik / Verwaltung Vergleichende Politikwissenschaften
Schlagworte British foreign policy • Critical Security Studies • deterence • Disarmament • Discourse analysis • nuclear weapons
ISBN-10 3-030-67575-0 / 3030675750
ISBN-13 978-3-030-67575-2 / 9783030675752
Zustand Neuware
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt?
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich