POLSC 333
13 September 2017
Nuclear Deterrence Memo
World peace. Just those two words probably sound like such a cliché phrase, one that
humanity has long desired to attain, yet appears to have epically failed at time and again. Well,
if peace could be defined as the absence of war, could humanity thank nuclear weapons for
relative peace? While I’ll admit that last statement was a little on the extreme side, nuclear
weapons can prevent the breakout of war and due to nuclear deterrence, has left the world at
a standstill. In order to deter adversaries and maintain peace, the United States should police
restricting other countries’ nuclear arsenal and keep an acceptable and restricted arsenal of our
own.
To begin with, the United States needs nuclear weapons to function as a deterrent to
not only our adversaries but also to the rest of the world. In “The Folly of Arms Control”, Schell
points out that the Cold War delineates a successful execution of nuclear deterrence. Both the
