Joshua O’Brien, Staff Writer

 

 

The nuclear weapons debate is an explosive one, and is of utmost importance for the future of international relations. Thus the many inspired students who ventured to Geddes Hall on October 29 to partake in a debate on nuclear weapons and questions of proliferation and disarmament.

 

Professor David Cortright, Director of Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute, and professor Sebastian Rosato, Director of the Notre Dame International Security Program, presented the cases for both future disarmament and increased proliferation of nuclear weapons in an exchange that sparked disagreement between both the debaters and the attendees.

 

Professor Cortright spoke first and elected not to argue, as many have done in the past, for nuclear disarmament based on moral grounds.  Instead, he argued that “nuclear disarmament is consistent with political realism.”  Central to this argument is the idea that as more states acquire nuclear arms and are capable of deploying them, scenarios of mutually assured deterrence, like the US standoff with the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis, cannot be guaranteed.  He also pointed out that the presence of nuclear weapons did not completely prevent armed conflict around the periphery of the major Cold War players.

 

Cortright argued for “going to zero” and outlined a plan for disarmament.  He warned that disarmament must be mutual in order to make sure that no one “cheats,” and contended that arms reduction would lessen political tension and facilitate further political cooperation.

 

Rosato began his presentation by providing an anecdote about his time at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway.  When asked to whom he would give the Nobel Peace Prize, Rosato responded, “Julius Robert Oppenheimer.”  Oppenheimer, of course, is well-known as the inventor of the atomic bomb.  Rosato quickly made it clear that he believes that “nuclear weapons are the greatest peacekeeping device in the world.”

He invoked historical evidence to explain why nuclear weapons proliferation is beneficial in maintaining peace.  Rosato pointed out that from 1789-1945, there were many large conventional wars, including both World Wars.  Since the end of World War II in 1945, there have been no large conventional wars between major world powers.

Rosato attributes this to the fact that the principle effect of having mutual nuclear weapon capability is national leaders knowing the outcome of an attack.  Wars are fought when nations do not know what the outcome will be.  In the world of nuclear weapons, if you choose to attack, you are also choosing to be destroyed through nuclear retaliation.  According to this logic, Rosato argues, no nation will ever dare to engage in a nuclear attack in the first place.

 

Cortright began his rebuttal by pointing out that accidental use of nuclear arms cannot be ignored as a major hole in Rosato’s argument.  He warned that political leaders do not always make rational decisions, citing the example of the Cuban missile crisis as a time when the world came close to an end because of one’s dictator’s irrational thinking.  Cortright also highlighted the possibility of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorist agencies who will not be afraid of using such weapons due to the fact that terrorists cannot be targeted in a retaliatory nuclear attack.

 

Rosato remained confident and unflappable throughout the entire debate and pointed out that no such accidents have ever happened.

“So what if a madman gets a nuclear weapon?” he rhetorically quipped.  “He will not use it, because if he does, he is certain of his own destruction.”

 

Rosato recommended providing nuclear weapons to Iran, South Korea, Germany and Japan.  He said that providing Iran with nuclear weapons would stabilize the Middle East because there is currently only one nuclear super-power in the Middle East (Israel) and that allowing Iran to proliferate nuclear weapons would help ease tensions in the area.

 

The debate was planned and organized by Global Zero Notre Dame, a campus group that works to spread the message that reducing nuclear weapons is attainable and that Notre Dame can be an effective leader in sending this message to national leaders.

 

To learn more about this group, visit its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalZeroND

 

Joshua O’Brien is a Sophomore English and Russian double major who likes wearing pajamas to class. Contact him at jobrie17@nd.edu.