Nuclear Realism

What is a realist response to nuclear weapons? This book is animated by the idea that contemporary attempts to confront the challenge of nuclear weapons and other global security problems would benefit from richer historical foundations. Returning to the decade of deep, thermonuclear anxiety inaugurated in the early 1950s, the authors focus on four creative intellectuals - Günther Anders, John H. Herz, Lewis Mumford and Bertrand Russell - whose work they reclaim under the label of 'nuclear realism'. This book brings out an important, oppositional and resolutely global strand of political thought that combines realist insights about nuclear weapons with radical proposals for social and political transformation as the only escape from a profoundly endangered planet. Nuclear Realism is a highly original and provocative study that will be of great use to advanced undergraduates, graduates and scholars of political theory, International Relations and Cold War history.

Rens van Munster is senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). Located at the intersection of IR theory and critical security studies, his research critically interrogates practices of security and risk management, with a particular focus on the politics and governance of catastrophes. He has published widely in leading IR journals and is the (co-)author of several books. His most recent publications include the co-edited volumes, with Casper Sylvest, Documenting World Politics: A Critical Companion to IR and Non-Fiction Film (Routledge, 2015) and The Politics of Globality since 1945: Assembling the Planet (Routledge, 2016) Casper Sylvest is associate professor at the Department of History, University of Southern Denmark. Combining the study of politics, history, law and technology, most of his work has examined realist and liberal visions of international and global politics during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has published widely in leading historical and IR journals and has recently co-edited, with Rens van Munster, Documenting World Politics: A Critical Companion to IR and Non-Fiction Film (Routledge, 2015) and The Politics of Globality since 1945: Assembling the Planet (Routledge, 2016).

Introduction 1. The Atomic Bomb and the New Knowledge Economy 2. Limits of War and Rationality in the Thermonuclear Age 3. Security and Liberty 4. Technology and Ecology 5. Reimagining the Future. Conclusion