Chasing a Grand Illusion: Replacing Deterrence with Disarmament

Chasing a Grand Illusion focuses on the positions expressed by church-based and secular scholars regarding the morality of nuclear weapons and effectiveness of deterrence. Of particular interest is their frequent conclusion that the solution to the threat posed by the existence of nuclear weapons is global nuclear disarmament and not what they describe as unacceptably dangerous policies of nuclear deterrence. The text examines the assumptions and logic of the narrative, common to church-based and secular commentary, that global disarmament is a safer and more effective path to addressing the threat posed by nuclear weapons than is continuing reliance on policies of deterrence. In particular, this study examines the frequently expressed proposal by church-based and secular proponents of global disarmament that disarmament can follow from the establishment of a new law-abiding global political order that is governed by a global orderer with the authority and power to mandate and enforce nuclear disarmament.