Sharing the Burden and Dodging the Blame: NATO as a Western Instrument of Nuclear Advocacy

Abstract

The West often indicate in discourse their desire to disarm. However, Western pro-nuclear disarmament rhetoric is often contested, since Western nuclear powers claim there are impeding factors to disarmament. These factors usually include the compromise of the security of their allies and generic ‘security reasons’. The argument is that concrete disarmament efforts are unfeasible and unrealistic because they do not consider the wide range of security concerns that nuclear weapons help mitigate. Oftentimes, the security of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies is invoked to justify the need for nuclear weapons. In that sense, I argue that the West instrumentalizes the NATO to rationalize and legitimize their nuclear weapons possession. They do so by 1) deflecting criticism related to nuclear policy to the organization; 2) passing the buck regarding the blame of maintaining nuclear weapons; 3) coercing NATO allies to adopt pro-nuclear policies; and 4) creating threats to justify these policies. Nuclear weapons symbolize material and reputational power and nuclear disarmament represents a severe loss of power for these States. The West creates a narrative wherein nuclear weapons are a ‘necessary evil’ to guarantee their own security and their allies.