#37 A Challenged but Unbroken Nuclear Order – with Stephen Herzog

After several decades of relative stability, many now question the health of the global nuclear order. In this episode, Dr. Stephen Herzog offers his take on the impact of the Russian war in Ukraine, the rise of China, and recent shifts in US foreign policy under Trump. Is the nuclear taboo eroding? Will more countries acquire nuclear weapons? Are key non-proliferation and disarmament treaties under threat? Stephen has done extensive research on these topics and published many influential papers. In fact, we were so impressed with his thorough, innovative, and surprisingly optimistic analysis that we decided to make this an extended episode!

Dr. Stephen Herzog is Professor of the Practice at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, based at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He is the Academic Co-Chair of the Harvard-MacArthur Foundation Beyond Nuclear Deterrence Working Group. Professor Herzog has been involved with the Alva Myrdal Centre's Working Group 1 on Nuclear Negotiations since it began and is a frequent guest lecturer for the AMC's academic programming for students at Uppsala University. He has published widely in scholarly and policy journals and holds a PhD In Political Science from Yale University. Before returning to academia, Dr. Herzog was a nuclear arms control official working for the US Department of Energy.

This episode is produced in cooperation with the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament. It is hosted by Communications Officer Joakim Palmén.

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Here are some of Stephen’s publications, which also served as background for the episode:

This article offers a broad discussion of the Russo-Ukrainian War's implications for the global nuclear order: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2022.2103255

This chapter assesses how Russia's war on Ukraine will affect prospects for nuclear disarmament and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW): https://www.amacad.org/publication/altered-nuclear-order-wake-russia-ukraine-war/section/2

This article describes the role that China could play in helping to stabilize the global nuclear order: https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2024.2401058