The Dead Volcano: The Background and Effects of Nuclear War Complacency

Is nuclear war just around the corner? Cimbala argues that nuclear complacency could cause a nuclear war in the 21st century. He reviews pertinent Cold War history to show the difficulty that Americans and Soviets experienced in adjusting their military thinking to the realities of nuclear stalemate. He suggests that the end of the Cold War released many of the brakes on belligerency and brinkmanship that developed as U.S. and Soviet leaders learned nuclear aversion by hard experience. Diminished credibility of nuclear deterrence in the 21st century only increases the likelihood of a post-Cold War stumble into nuclear disaster.

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Argues that nuclear complacency can cause a nuclear war in the 21st century.

STEPHEN J. CIMBALA is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Penn State University (Delaware County).