Workshop “War on Ukraine and the Nuclear World Order”

2022 has not only brought a systemic crisis in international security, but also made an impact over the whole nuclear world order. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has questioned the values of the liberal regimes and systems the NPT regime is built upon. The attack of the biggest nuclear weapon state over a state having denied its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security assurances presents just one aspect. Another one is the tremendous growth of the role of nuclear weapons in communication among world actors. Russia’s nuclear blackmail of NATO, coercing its members from direct military support to Ukraine, updated the functions attributed to nuclear weapons, in particular the nuclear coercion function. Russia’s nuclear coercion already shows its indirect influence over the policies of states such as China, Iran and North Korea.

The workshop aims to explore the influence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the nuclear world order, in particular: testing the capabilities and limits of nuclear deterrence, examining opportunities for arms control and its future, discovering challenges to disarmament and nonproliferation. The workshop's goals are to increase awareness among the expert community over the risks to the nuclear world order posed by Russia's war on Ukraine and to involve young scholars in the experts' dialogue on nuclear deterrence, arms control, nonproliferation, and nuclear security.

Download the programme (PDF)