Structure Amid Change: The Global Nuclear Order And The Soviet Collapse

Published in the Journal of Strategic Studies as part of a special issue on the military and strategic consequences of the end of the Cold War, Mariana Budjeryn examines the post-1991 nuclear settlement. By 1991, the Soviet Union had collapsed, but the post–Cold War international order changed less than expected. Rather than proliferating across successor states, nuclear weapons were consolidated under Russia, which inherited the Soviet arsenal and retained its positions in the United Nations Security Council and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons framework. The article argues that this outcome reflected the stabilizing influence of the global nuclear order, particularly nonproliferation norms and U.S.–Soviet arms control structures, which shaped what options were seen as legitimate after the Soviet collapse.