Articles

225 Items

an alert from the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

AP/Jon Elswick

Journal Article - Foreign Affairs

The End of Cyber-Anarchy?

| January/February 2022

Joseph Nye argues that prudence results from the fear of creating unintended consequences in unpredictable systems and can develop into a norm of nonuse or limited use of certain weapons or a norm of limiting targets. Something like this happened with nuclear weapons when the superpowers came close to the brink of nuclear war in 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis. The Limited Test Ban Treaty followed a year later.

Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty gather in Geneva for NPT Prepcom 2018.

JWB/Wikimedia Commons

Journal Article - Contemporary Security Policy

Durable Institution Under Fire? The NPT Confronts Emerging Multipolarity

The regime built around the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has helped curtail the spread of nuclear arms for fifty years. In hindsight, it is remarkable only nine states possess the world’s most powerful weapon. The NPT achieved much success during Cold War bipolarity and U.S. unipolarity in its aftermath. But today, China’s rise and Russia’s resurgence have ushered in a new era of emerging multipolarity. Can the treaty withstand the potential challenges of this dynamic environment? There is a real risk that multipolarity may shake the scaffolding of the nonproliferation regime, presenting a significant test to the NPT’s durability. This article identifies four essential elements of the nonproliferation regime: widespread membership, adaptability, enforcement, and fairness. History suggests bipolarity and unipolarity in the international system largely sustained and promoted these NPT features. When international regimes lack such elements, it sharply curtails their long-term efficacy.

Ambassador Ivor Richard, left, of the United Kingdom, and U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young, right, raise their arms during vote, Friday, Nov. 4, 1977 at the United Nations Security Council.

(AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Caught Red-Handed: How States Wield Proof to Coerce Wrongdoers

| Fall 2021

States frequently acquire proof that other states have violated norms. Yet, existing theories do not fully explain how states wield such proof to coerce wrongdoers. Four case studies of nuclear proliferation probe a novel theory of how states coerce norm violators by concealing, sharing privately, or publicizing proof of guilt.

It was announced, that a pact of mutual assistance has been negotiated between the British, French, and Soviet governments. It is stated that the British Cabinet is sending their draft of the fact, negotiated mainly by Lord Halifax during his visit to Geneva, to Moscow and Paris for approval within the next twenty-four hours. From left to right are Georges Bonnet, the French Foreign Minister, Ivan Maisky, the Russian Ambassador in London, and Lord Edward Halifax, the British Foreign Minister, at Geneva, Swi

AP Photo

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

When Do Ideological Enemies Ally?

| Summer 2021

Two variables help determine whether ideological enemies are likely to ally against a shared material threat. States’ susceptibility to domestic ideological changes and the nature of states’ ideological differences are two contending forces that influence alliance formation or failure.

Former President Bill Clinton in conversation with Kennedy School professor R. Nicholas Burns at the inaugural Stephen W. Bosworth Memorial Lecture in Diplomacy on Wednesday.

Isabel G. Skomro, Crimson Staff Writer

Newspaper Article - Harvard Crimson

Former President Bill Clinton Reflects on Foreign Policy Challenges at HKS Lecture

| Apr. 07, 2021

Former President Bill Clinton reflected on the foreign policy challenges of his presidency at the inaugural Stephen W. Bosworth Memorial Lecture in Diplomacy, hosted Wednesday by the Harvard Kennedy School.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures while addressing a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Vice President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, right, listen.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

To Disclose or Deceive? Sharing Secret Information between Aligned States

| Winter 2020/21

When aligned states consider disclosing secret information about military plans to use force, the state initiating these plans may choose among four information-sharing strategies: collusion, compartmentalization, concealment, and lying. Three main considerations shape its decision: potential costs of deception, the partner’s intentions, and the partner’s capabilities.

Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, French foreign minister Roland Dumas, GDR foreign minister Markus Meckel, Federal Germany foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, UK foreign minister Douglas Hurd, and U.S. foreign minister James Baker pictured on the podium at the first 'Two Plus Four' conference in Bonn, Germany, 05 May 1990. It was the first meeting on the way to the Two Plus Four Agreement between the two Germanies and the Four Powers that agreed on the Reunification of Germany.

Martin Athenstädt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

The United States and the NATO Non-extension Assurances of 1990: New Light on an Old Problem?

| Winter 2020/21

Did the Western powers promise in 1990 not to expand NATO? An examination of the evidence leads to the conclusion that the Russian allegations are by no means baseless, which affects how the U.S.-Russian relationship today is to be understood.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns

Ekathimerini

Newspaper Article - Ekathimerini

Turkey Must Stop its Aggressiveness towards Greece, Says Burns

| Dec. 03, 2020

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone too far with his challenging of Greece's sovereignty and territorial waters, former US Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns told the online 31st annual Greek Economic Summit of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.