Does my bomb look big in this? Britain's nuclear choices after Trident

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does my bomb look big in this? Britain's nuclear choices after Trident

AU - Clarke, M

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - The United Kingdom's present strategic nuclear deterrent, the Trident submarine-based system, has been in full operation for less than four years. But the government will have to consider questions about the follow-on to this system before the end of this parliament and its successor government will almost certainly have to start taking, and implementing, decisions before 2008-9. In the past, political and public debates about the UK's nuclear weapons tended to flow forward on their own technical momentum, backed by the strategic imperatives of the Cold War. The next successor decisions, however, will be made in an era where both the technical questions and the strategic environment will be radically different. There may or may not be another vigorous public debate, but the present, and next, government will face some fundamental defence and foreign policy choices over whether and how to remain a credible nuclear power.

AB - The United Kingdom's present strategic nuclear deterrent, the Trident submarine-based system, has been in full operation for less than four years. But the government will have to consider questions about the follow-on to this system before the end of this parliament and its successor government will almost certainly have to start taking, and implementing, decisions before 2008-9. In the past, political and public debates about the UK's nuclear weapons tended to flow forward on their own technical momentum, backed by the strategic imperatives of the Cold War. The next successor decisions, however, will be made in an era where both the technical questions and the strategic environment will be radically different. There may or may not be another vigorous public debate, but the present, and next, government will face some fundamental defence and foreign policy choices over whether and how to remain a credible nuclear power.

U2 - 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00365.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00365.x

M3 - Article

SN - 1468-2346

VL - 80

SP - 49 - +

JO - International Affairs (London)

JF - International Affairs (London)

IS - 1

ER -