Word: schelling
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this Schell product really is new and improved. Finding Schell back on terra firm a must be welcome to those who--like their progressive idealists flexing their thinking muscles in the realm of the possible. Forget world government, now you get a policy that is not simplistic, and--if one stretches the definition of 'possible' to its utmost breaking point--maybe even workable. There are, of course, still many bugs to be worked out in the new product...
...proposal doesn't "uninvent" nuclear weaponry--Schell concedes that is impossible but rather seeks to use the everlasting knowledge of how to construct nukes as deterrent against another power attempting nuclear blackmail. The difference is that, instead of the current seven minute time lapse between the commencement of hostilities and Armageddon, the lag would be anywhere from a week to a few months...
Moreover, this state of what Schell calls "existential deterrence" would set the stage for deeper, more lasting agreements between the superpowers. These agreements are not described; Schell merely writes...
...Schell's optimism and self-conscious naivete are clearly heartfelt, but they do not alone make policy, and the author's bouts of wishful thinking only underscore the incompleteness of the more complete proposals. They also beg the two crucial questions that Schell leaves unanswered; namely, how does one convince a country to abandon all its weapons? and, once Schell's plan is put into effect, how do we make a clean break with our policy of deference, a policy that he has convincingly argued always carries the threat of nuclear holocaust...
Given that we cannot even hold talks with the Soviets on freezing our nuclear arsenals, finding a way to dismantle the whole lot is a heady task indeed. And, if Schell's list of positive human attributes ever did hold away in foreign policy matters, we probably wouldn't have to bother with his complicated solution...