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‘War No Longer Has Any Logic Whatever’: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Thermonuclear Revolution

Andrew P. N. Eardmann

in Cold War Statesmen Confront the Bomb: Nuclear Diplomacy Since 1945

For Eisenhower, it was nuclear weapons’ destructive potential, not the image of a protracted conventional war, that destroyed the ’logic’ of war. He believed that thermonuclear weapons made any ... More

For Eisenhower, it was nuclear weapons’ destructive potential, not the image of a protracted conventional war, that destroyed the ’logic’ of war. He believed that thermonuclear weapons made any notion of victory incoherent. Meaningful defence could then only be deterrence. Facing this new setting, Eisenhower reassessed the dynamics of international relations and altered his behaviour accordingly. During his first three years as president, he relied on the ’Detroit Deterrent’, the belief that the US industrial capacity would enable it to triumph in any such war of attrition. By 1956, however, the combination of thermonuclear weapons and growing Soviet intercontinental delivery capabilities made Detroit Deterrent obsolete in his mind. By the end of his presidency, therefore, superpower relations had begun to operate according to this new logic, the logic of ’thermonuclear revolution’.Less

Justice of the Peace? Future Challenges and Prospects for a Cosmopolitan Court

Steven C. Roach

in Governance, Order, and the International Criminal Court: Between Realpolitik and a Cosmopolitan Court

The ICC Prosecutor's discretionary resolve in Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic has exposed many nuanced dimensions of classical and positive forms of ... More

The ICC Prosecutor's discretionary resolve in Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic has exposed many nuanced dimensions of classical and positive forms of complementarity. This concluding chapter explores this trend in terms of the complex challenges of reconciling peace and justice, and in terms of the parameters and implications of two thematic issues: the global deterrent effect and global terrorism. It argues that the complex design of the ICC, while underscoring many significant legal and political challenges of extending global governance, also reveals the Court's potential responsiveness to, or positive role in addressing global security problems.Less

Flight (II) The Mississippi Plantation

WILLIAM DUSINBERRE

in Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk

During a nineteen-year period after Beanland had finally been dismissed, more than half of the adult men at the plantation (at least thirteen out of 25 adult males) fled at least once. These ... More

During a nineteen-year period after Beanland had finally been dismissed, more than half of the adult men at the plantation (at least thirteen out of 25 adult males) fled at least once. These fugitives fled, on average, on more than three separate occasions. Thus, the total number of flights was at least forty during the same period. Occasionally a fugitive voluntarily turned himself in to a well-disposed white man who he hoped would protect him from a brutal overseer. Flight was dangerous — one fugitive received buck shot in his thigh when he returned at night to fetch clothes for a comrade; sleeping out in the woods led more than once to serious illness. Recapture was normally punished by a severe whipping. Flight never, apparently, led to permanent escape. Yet it was the principal safety valve that gave Polk's slaves a vent for their discontent.Less

Deterring Unequally I: A Large-n Analysis

Vipin Narang

in Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era: Regional Powers and International Conflict

This chapter tests the deterrent effect of regional power nuclear postures in a large-n statistical design to systematically analyze whether, on average, some nuclear postures deter conflict better ... More

This chapter tests the deterrent effect of regional power nuclear postures in a large-n statistical design to systematically analyze whether, on average, some nuclear postures deter conflict better than others. It takes nuclear posture as an independent variable, testing whether these postures have differential effects on states' ability to deter the outbreak of conventional conflict. Compared to when the state did not have nuclear weapons, and compared to other states, this chapter considers what effect we should expect these different postures to have on a state's ability to deter the eruption of conventional conflict (general deterrence) against both nuclear and non-nuclear opponents.Less

Conclusion

Vipin Narang

in Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era: Regional Powers and International Conflict

This chapter reiterates the findings explored in this book and discusses their implications. In doing so, the chapter stresses the significance of the posited optimization theory. This theory is the ... More

This chapter reiterates the findings explored in this book and discusses their implications. In doing so, the chapter stresses the significance of the posited optimization theory. This theory is the first comparative theory of regional power nuclear postures. Against the full universe of empirical cases involving selection of nuclear posture—a decision that unfolds deliberately over many years and often over many leaders—optimization theory is the most valid theory available. It is also the first broadly comparative theory for why states select the nuclear postures they do, suggesting that states may be rational to sacrifice deterrent power in certain security environments and under particular organizational and relative endowment circumstances. In addition, the chapter closes the volume by detailing some avenues for further research, as well as some concluding insights.Less

Does Criminal Law Deter?

Paul H. Robinson

in Distributive Principles of Criminal Law: Who Should be Punished How Much

This chapter examines that fundamental question of whether criminal law deters. Topics discussed include the prerequisites to deterrence, aggregated-effect studies, and the possibilities and ... More

This chapter examines that fundamental question of whether criminal law deters. Topics discussed include the prerequisites to deterrence, aggregated-effect studies, and the possibilities and impossibilities of improving deterrent effect. It argues that given the rarity of situations in which the prerequisites of deterrence are present and of nonnegligible effect, the standard use of deterrence analysis to formulate criminal law doctrine seems wildly misguided. At the very least, deterrence analysis ought to be considered in criminal law debate only after a showing that the deterrence-prerequisite conditions might actually exist.Less

Deterrence as a Distributive Principle

Paul H. Robinson

in Distributive Principles of Criminal Law: Who Should be Punished How Much

This chapter examines deterrence as a distributive principle. It argues that a deterrence-based distribution potentially can forfeit any crime-control gains when that distribution undermines the ... More

This chapter examines deterrence as a distributive principle. It argues that a deterrence-based distribution potentially can forfeit any crime-control gains when that distribution undermines the system's moral credibility with the community it governs. That is, even if one assumes for the sake of argument that there would be some greater deterrent effect of a deterrence-based distribution of punishment over a desert-based distribution of punishment, one would still question whether this marginal benefit exceeds the losses that the use of a deterrence-based system would incur.Less

5

Jean-Luc Nancy

in After Fukushima: The Equivalence of Catastrophes

This chapter warns of possible errors in the future. Fukushima is the apocalypse to what was Hiroshima. By using atomic power, it becomes possible to dissuade confrontation, and hail this as a ... More

This chapter warns of possible errors in the future. Fukushima is the apocalypse to what was Hiroshima. By using atomic power, it becomes possible to dissuade confrontation, and hail this as a strategy toward achieving peace, toward balancing and stopping terror. But this weapon of dissuasion begets in others also the desire to own and possess such weapons. This use of atomic weapons does not enhance relationships because there is no kind of relationship that exists to speak when everything is confronted with nuclear weapons as deterrents. It is not like David and Goliath, nor Ulysses and the Cyclops. This kind of balance destroys any and all relationships as there is no longer confrontation, as it is already so much dependent on human will to command. A little mistake or the proverbial mad scientist can end it all. This situation is therefore beyond anything calculable as the effects of the decision itself would be immense.Less

Sex Offender Registration, Notification, and Restriction Laws

Charles Patrick Ewing

in Justice Perverted: Sex Offense Law, Psychology, and Public Policy

This chapter examines sex offender registration, notification, and restriction laws. It begins by looking at the historical roots of these laws—now long-defunct efforts by a number of states to ... More

This chapter examines sex offender registration, notification, and restriction laws. It begins by looking at the historical roots of these laws—now long-defunct efforts by a number of states to monitor the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders. It also traces the legislative and judicial history of these laws from 1990 to the present, and examines this body of law in light of empirical data regarding sex offender recidivism and the deterrent efficacy of sex offender registration, public notification, and restrictions on where convicted sex offenders may live, work, or travel. Finally, the chapter details and then weighs the economic and other costs and benefits of these laws.Less

Sentenced Individuals' Reactions to the Recidivist Sentencing Premium

Roberts Julian V

in Punishing Persistent Offenders: Exploring Community and Offender Perspectives

This chapter turns to the critical question of the practice of imposing harsher sentences on recidivists. It describes participants' general reaction to the concept of harsher sentencing for repeat ... More

This chapter turns to the critical question of the practice of imposing harsher sentences on recidivists. It describes participants' general reaction to the concept of harsher sentencing for repeat offenders and summarises the sentences that they favoured in response to specific case scenarios. As will be seen, there was widespread acceptance of the recidivist sentencing premium, although many individuals took exception to the way in which the premium was imposed, and held the view that insufficient consideration had been given to their efforts to desist from offending. This chapter also considers repetition as a justification for greater intervention, dimensions of criminal record, scepticism about deterrent value of a recidivist sentencing premium, attitudes to the use of custody as a sanction, and excessive focus of the court on the crime.Less

The United States, Part 2: Trapped by Voluntary Prisoner Repatriation

in Paths to Peace: Domestic Coalition Shifts, War Termination and the Korean War

This chapter investigates dynamics at the micro (operational and policy) level, which can be seen in the United States decision to adopt a policy of voluntary repatriation of prisoners of war (POWs). ... More

This chapter investigates dynamics at the micro (operational and policy) level, which can be seen in the United States decision to adopt a policy of voluntary repatriation of prisoners of war (POWs). It describes the voluntary POW repatriation policy, the Dwight Eisenhower coalition shift, and alternative explanations for the behavior of the United States during the Korean War. At a micro level, the US decision to adopt the POW voluntary repatriation policy demonstrated the interacting dynamics of information and entrapment obstacles. The failure of Harry Truman to end the Korean War significantly led to Eisenhower's election. Eisenhower's coalition could overcome Truman's obstacles to peace. He maintained the POW policy, but he changed the US policy on nuclear deterrent power and thus felt free to escalate the war, if necessary.Less

Managing psychopharmaceutical drugs under prescription regimes

Thomas F. Babor, Jonathan Caulkins, Benedikt Fischer, David Foxcroft, Keith Humphreys, María Elena Medina-Mora, Isidore Obot, Jürgen Rehm, Peter Reuter, Robin Room, Ingeborg Rossow, and John Strang

in Drug Policy and the Public Good

There is extraordinary cross-national variation in the availability of prescription psychoactive drugs, with most prescription drug use being concentrated in developed countries. A variety of ... More

There is extraordinary cross-national variation in the availability of prescription psychoactive drugs, with most prescription drug use being concentrated in developed countries. A variety of measures aim to prevent abuses such as ‘doctor shopping’ and diversion of psychopharmaceuticals from the medical and pharmacy systems. The evidence suggests that prescription regimes affect the prescribing practices of doctors, often resulting in substitution. Price can be used to channel demand between two drugs that are substitutes for each other, moving demand from a drug with more adverse consequences to a less risky alternative. Advice to physicians on prescribing, has limited effect unless it concerns a new and serious side effect and alternative medicines can be prescribed. The development of a strong pharmacy system can limit illicit diversion of prescription medications, but cannot always prevent periodic epidemics of prescription drug misuse.Less

1905–1908: Going into Hibernation

Peter Ghosh

in Max Weber and The Protestant Ethic: Twin Histories

This chapter begins in 1905 when Weber started writing the PE, noting his detachment towards the text. Weber had no especial liking for the seventeenth-century subject matter of the PE, which relied ... More

This chapter begins in 1905 when Weber started writing the PE, noting his detachment towards the text. Weber had no especial liking for the seventeenth-century subject matter of the PE, which relied ‘so heavily on alien (theological and historical) works’. The discussion then turns to the years 1907–1908 when the PE was set aside and no more would be heard about it as a publishing project until 1915. While there is no documentary answer as to why the project was set aside, there were sufficient intellectual deterrents at work, besides the improvement in the Webers' financial circumstances.Less

India’s Nuclear Weaponization: Warheads, Delivery Systems, and Doctrinal Compatibility

T.S. Gopi Rethinaraj

in India's Military Modernization: Strategic Technologies and Weapons Systems

Nuclear weapons development requires three critical elements: fissile materials, testing data, warheads and delivery systems. Estimates of India’s fissile material stocks suitable for military are ... More

Nuclear weapons development requires three critical elements: fissile materials, testing data, warheads and delivery systems. Estimates of India’s fissile material stocks suitable for military are modest, and the current international political environment has placed severe constraints on testing. The quality and robustness of India’s nuclear deterrent is thus largely dependent on the progress achieved in warhead design and acquisition of delivery systems and platforms. The biggest challenge in the coming years will be the integration of the tested nuclear devices with various missiles in order to constitute a credible second strike nuclear force. Doubts were cast recently about the reliability of current warhead designs. Production and acquisition of delivery systems and platforms have been very slow and likely to affect the pace of weaponization program. This chapter reviews the current status of India’s current nuclear force structure, and the role of warhead design and delivery systems and platforms in nuclear weapons development.Less