Apocalyptic Politics: Mutually Assured Destruction

There is a gun to our collective heads right now. Don’t worry, we’ve got a shot on the people behind it. But we probably won’t ever take it, and neither will they - because doing so would be suicide for all of us.

In this week’s episode of Long Story Short, we’re discussing M.A.D. theory - Mutually Assured Destruction. These are the politics and policies guiding humanity’s greatest weapons - nuclear bombs capable of erasing cities and nations.

Filmed and edited by Anthony Pearson
Researched and written by Julius Toth

Music Credit:
00:01 PHX by JCM [Canada]
01:00 Blueshift by AIRGLOW
06:00 Far Apart by AIRGLOW
10:56 Innermission by AIRGLOW

References:

1: Cimbala, Stephen J. (2017). Putin and Russia in retro and forward: the nuclear dimension. Defense & Security Analysis, 33(1), 57-67. DOI: 10.1080/14751798.2017.1289636

2: Frank, Richard B. (1999). Downfall: the end of the imperial Japanese empire. New York, NY: Random House.

3: Glaser, Charles L., & Fetter, Steve. (2016). Should the United States reject MAD? Damage limitation and U.S. nuclear strategy towards China. International Security, 41(1), 49-98. DOI: 10.1162/ISEC_a_00248

4: Green, Brendan R., & Long, Austin. (2017). The MAD who wasn’t there: Soviet reactions to the late cold war nuclear balance. Security Studies, 26(4), 606-641. DOI: 10.1080/09636412.2015.1331639

5: Kaplan, Edward. (2015). To kill nations: American strategy in the air-atomic age and the rise of mutually assured destruction. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

6: Mutual Assured Destruction. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 12, 2017, from

7: Sinovets, Polina, & Renz, Bettina. (2015). Russia’s 2014 military doctrine and beyond: threat perceptions, capabilities, and ambitions. NATO Research Paper, 117, 1-12.

8: Wellerstein, Alex. (2012-2017). NUKEMAP 2.5. Retrieved from

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