logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2019
39m 34s

Podcast: Drawing from Nuclear History to...

DEPARTMENT OF WAR STUDIES
About this episode
Date of publication: 12/02/2019 Description: Researchers and students of war and global security often look to the past to better understand developments in the present. So, how might the history of Nuclear weapons help us understand today’s security challenges?   The advent of nuclear weapons caused a significant shift in the perceived cost of war between ... Show More
Up next
May 16
Spying in South Asia: Cold War Intelligence and the Making of Modern India
How did Cold War intelligence operations shape postcolonial India’s domestic politics and international alignments? Why did Western agencies prioritise relationships with Indian counterparts while publicly decrying non-alignment? And what can today’s policymakers learn from the l ... Show More
55m 16s
Apr 17
From rebels to rulers: Who are Syria’s new leaders?
In December 2024, the Assad regime in Syria was overthrown. Today, Ahmed al-Sharaa is acting as the interim president of Syria, at the head of a new transitional government. What will the future look like for Syria under its new leader? Will the coalition of rebel factions be abl ... Show More
49m 38s
Apr 3
How behavioural science can pave the way to peace in Colombia
In 2016, the Colombian government signed a historic peace agreement with guerilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC. The agreement brought an end to 52 years of war, but today, eight years after the agreement was ratified, Colombia is still not ... Show More
52m 49s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2021
The Laws of War in International Thought
Professor Pablo Kalmanovitz, International Studies Division at CIDE, Mexico City, gives a talk for the Oxford PIL discussion group. The Law of Armed Conflict is usually understood to be a regime of exception that applies only during armed conflict and regulates hostilities among ... Show More
48m 40s
Jan 2022
Graham Allison on how China’s rising global power could lead to superpower conflict—or something else.
It takes a lot to impress Professor Graham Allison when it comes to geopolitics. He is, after all, the Cold Warrior’s Cold Warrior—as one of America’s most influential defense policy analysts and advisors, he was twice awarded the Defense Department’s highest civilian honor for h ... Show More
44m 17s
Oct 2022
Babbage: What are tactical nuclear weapons?
The war in Ukraine has raised the nuclear threat to its highest level since the Cuban missile crisis. What types of nuclear weapons could be used in Ukraine, and how much damage could they do?  Cheryl Rofer, a former nuclear scientist at America’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, ... Show More
36m 50s
May 2023
Science Diplomacy
Next week is Science Diplomacy Week here in Geneva and therefore this week’s episode of What Matters Today will focus on the topic of Science Diplomacy. We will highlight what Science Diplomacy is and discuss the problems it’s trying to solve. We will also talk about how the war ... Show More
16m 49s
Oct 2022
Tactical Nuclear Weapons
In a scathing attack on the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared the world faces its most dangerous decade since WW2 - having reaffirmed that Russia will use every available weapon in its arsenal, including tactical nuclear weapons.Not only that, Russia has also ma ... Show More
30m 23s
Jan 2024
Unpacking China’s Nuclear Modernization: A Conversation with Hans Kristensen
In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Mr. Hans Kristensen joins us to unravel the complexity of China’s expanding nuclear capabilities. Mr. Kristensen compares the composition of China’s nuclear stockpile to its global counterparts and analyzes China’s ongoing modernization ... Show More
42m 58s
Jul 2020
#210 — The Logic of Doomsday
Sam Harris speaks with William J. Perry and Lisa Perry about the ever-present threat of nuclear war. They discuss the history of nuclear weapons, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the present threat of accidental nuclear war, nuclear terrorism, unil ... Show More
1h 46m
Aug 2023
#330 — The Doomsday Machine
Sam Harris speaks with Carl Robichaud about the ongoing threat of nuclear war. They discuss the film "Oppenheimer," the ethics of dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the false lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the history and future of nuclear proliferation, the l ... Show More
1h 35m
May 2023
A New Nuclear Age
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the possibility of nuclear war felt like a problem of days past. Now, as great-power competition heats up, the potential for nuclear conflict seems higher than at any point in decades. How did the nuclear taboo fade, and what does nuclear p ... Show More
40m 40s
Feb 2020
#186 — The Bomb
Sam Harris speaks with Fred Kaplan about the ever-present threat of nuclear war. They discuss the history of nuclear deterrence, U.S. first-strike policy, preventive war, limited nuclear war, tactical vs. strategic weapons, Trump’s beliefs about nuclear weapons, the details of co ... Show More
1h 19m