Nuclear weapons, deterrence and great power competition

“Great power competition” is one of the defining characteristics of the contemporary strategic environment, both globally and in the critically important Indo-Pacific region. Part of this condition is a return of nuclear weapons and nuclear strategy to prominence in international security policy and debate. What makes this more worrying is that nuclear complexities and technological change (like the development of hypersonic missiles and ballistic missile defences) are outpacing the ability of existing arms control regimes to manage nuclear weapons within competitive inter-state relationships.

Given that the defining feature of the twenty-first century nuclear security environment is complexity and fluidity rather than stability, what roles are each of the major nuclear weapons states (NWS) playing in the process? Is nuclear deterrence still feasible under these conditions? And what do they see as the main threats and opportunities in the nuclear domain? This April 2022 edition of The Looking Glass assesses the postures of the three main nuclear powers in the twenty-first century – the US, Russia and the PRC – in order to try and shed some light on these questions.

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