Working Papers/Publications
Let Nagasaki be the last!
Nineteen Pandemic-Nuclear Nexus Policy Measures in Northeast Asia
2021-01-27
Let Nagasaki be the last!
Nineteen Pandemic-Nuclear Nexus Policy Measures in Northeast Asia
January 27, 2021
Co-Chairs, Panel on Peace and Security of Northeast Asia (PSNA)
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the failure of nation-states and international institutions to manage global risks—including economic recession, border closures, vaccine competition, and shifts in military behavior—that could heighten the risk of nuclear disaster in the years to come. COVID-19 has also introduced new dynamics: it has already infected three supreme nuclear commanders, has afflicted nuclear command and control organizations, and may ravage nuclear and conventional forces, thereby destabilizing nuclear-prone conflicts at a time when tension should be reduced, not increased. The threat of nuclear war is particularly urgent in the Northeast Asia region, the locus of multiple simmering conflicts.
In October-November 2020, RECNA-Nagasaki University and APLN with support of Nautilus Institute convened the Nagasaki 75th Anniversary scenarios workshop to address the pandemic-nuclear nexus. About fifty participants of diverse background explored the future of nuclear war and nuclear disarmament in light of the uncertainty created by the global coronavirus pandemic. Their specific task was to develop four scenarios framed by the relative power of national governments versus non-state actors on the one hand, and fragmented versus collaborative approach to global risk on the other, to answer the focal question:
What are the opportunities driven by global pandemics for Northeast Asian governments, civil society, and market actors to reduce nuclear risk and resume nuclear disarmament?
Please find a link to the full text here.
