Challenging nuclearism explores how a deliberate 'normalisation' of nuclear weapons has been constructed, why it has prevailed in international politics for over seventy years and why it is only now being questioned seriously. The book identifies how certain practices have enabled a small group of states to hold vast arsenals of these weapons of mass destruction and how the close control over nuclear decisions by a select group has meant that the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons have been disregarded for decades.

The recent UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will not bring about quick disarmament. It has been decried by the nuclear weapon states. But by rejecting nuclearism and providing a clear denunciation of nuclear weapons, it will challenge nuclear states in a way that has until now not been possible. Challenging nuclearism analyses the origins and repercussions of this pivotal moment in nuclear politics.

Reviews

'As tensions rise, the existential threat of nuclear weapons becomes prominent once again and the world needs more critical assessments of what is being-and what could be-done to avoid the catastrophe of nuclear war or accident. Hanson's book therefore provides a vital contribution that clearly sets out the case for why we need to reject nuclearism and make a world without nuclear weapons a reality.'
Rhys Crilley, International Affairs

'Australian political scientist Marianne Hanson has written a clear-eyed book about the prospects for nuclear disarmament. Hanson soberly concludes that the nuclear-armed states, left to control the terms, the pace and the outcome of an endeavour to which they have pledged themselves for decades, will never give up nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, a path forward to the elimination of nuclear weapons exists, and Hanson describes that path and the challenges along the way.'
John Loretz, Medicine, Conflict and Survival

Introduction

Part I: The dominance of nuclearism
1 Identifying the elements of nuclearism: Traditional framings normalize nuclear weapons
2 Nuclearism today: Modernization, the persistence of deterrence, and the rise of new dangers
3 Pushing for disarmament: A fruitless exercise

Part II: The transition - from the humanitarian initiative to the prohibition treaty
4 The recent humanitarian context: limiting the 'calamities of war'
5 Creating the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Part III: Rejecting nuclearism
6 Rejecting Nuclearism I: a new discourse; bringing humanitarianism back; new voices and actors; challenging material spending
7 Rejecting Nuclearism II: disrupting the nuclear order

Part IV: Ending nuclearism?
8 Challenges to and likely impacts of the treaty

Conclusion

References

Author

Marianne Hanson is Associate Professor of International Relations at the School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland