Belfer Policy Chats (BPC)  is a new Belfer event series held on every third Thursday of the month. The series features our fellows to chat about issues on the forefront of global policy. The aim is to provide a forum to engage on an informal level on policy topics at the Center around topics such as national security, science and technology, cyber security, innovation, and competitiveness.  Join us for beer, wine, and a lively discussion!

A seminar with Reid Pauly, Predoctoral Fellow with the International Security Program and Project on Managing the Atom.

Speaker: Reid Pauly, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

In making demands, coercers must communicate the credibility of their threats to punish. They must also, however, communicate the credibility of corresponding assurances not to punish if the target complies. This presentation will explain the paradox at the heart of coercion and explore how states overcome it by signaling the contingency of their actions.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Speaker: Reid Pauly, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

Is there a normative prohibition on the use of nuclear weapons? Recent scholarship has cast doubt on the existence of a norm of nuclear non-use among the American people. But the public does not make decisions about using nuclear weapons. In this presentation, Pauly investigates the willingness of American policymakers to use nuclear weapons through the history of political-military wargaming. He tests competing theories about the use and non-use of nuclear weapons by examining both whether strategic elites were willing to use nuclear weapons in different scenarios and how they explained those decisions.