Background

To what extent, if at all, is the political and military deployment of nuclear weapons compatible with constitutional democracy and democratic culture? This question has haunted intellectuals in the West since the inception of the nuclear age and is currently receiving renewed attention.

This seminar brings together contemporary and historical perspectives on this vital problem. First, Elaine Scarry will discuss the relationship between US nuclear weapons and constitutional democracy on the basis of her recent book Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing between Democracy and Doom. Rens van Munster and Casper Sylvest will introduce their new bookNuclear Realism: Global Political Thought during the Thermonuclear Revolution.

They pay particular attention to oppositional intellectuals during the 1950s and their critique of nuclear deterrence and the US national security state. Ole Wæver will comment on the two presentations and reflect on the place of nuclear weapons in contemporary security politics.

The seminar will be followed by a light reception and a brief introduction by John O’Brian to the DIIS photographic exhibition ‘The Nuclear Machine: Atomic Metabolism on Display’.

Speakers

Robin May Schott, Senior Researcher, Peace, Risk and Violence, DIIS

Rens van Munster, Research Coordinator, Senior Researcher, Peace, Risk and Violence, DIIS.

Elaine Scarry, Professor of aesthetics and general theory of value, Harvard University

Casper Sylvest, Associate Professor, Institute of History, University of Southern Denmark

Ole Wæver, Professor of international relations department of political science, University of Copenhagen

John O’Brian, Professor of art history, University of British Columbia

Programme

Læs videre på

http://www.diis.dk/en/event/nuclear-weapons-and-democratic-politics