February 18, 2016
Nikolai Sokov (Credit: Isis Martins)
CNS Senior Fellow Nikolai Sokov has published a chapter in a new book titled Global Nuclear Disarmament: Strategic, Political, and Regional Perspectives, edited by Nik Hynek and Michal Smetana of Charles University in Prague. The book discusses the fundamental theoretical and conceptual foundations of nuclear disarmament and subsequently tries to assess its hypothetical impact in global and regional contexts.
In his chapter, “Russian Perspective on Nuclear Disarmament and Post-Nuclear World,” Dr. Sokov analyzes the public and elite views in Russia on the future international security system as well as the role of nuclear weapons in providing for the security of the country. It concludes that, to the Russian public and the elite, the future looks, “dark and dangerous,” boding ill for expectations of further reductions in the reliance on nuclear weapons in the near future. The chapter explores conditions under which Russia could take a more positive attitude toward nuclear disarmament, including the development of a modern precision-guided long-range conventional strike and defense capability, which could substitute nuclear weapons at least for some scenarios. He also explores possible implications of such development on the security perceptions in the United States and NATO.
