Risk of nuclear use and perhaps even nuclear war are higher today than for at least a generation. This talk unpacks the different technological, political and normative factors driving this shift, and makes the case for theorising this transition in nuclear order as the move towards a “third nuclear age”.

Biography

Andrew Futter is Professor of International Politics at the University of Leicester, UK. He has written widely on nuclear weapons issues and the impact of disruptive emerging technology, publishing seven books and dozens of peer reviewed and professional articles. His most recent publication is the second edition of his “Politics of Nuclear Weapons” textbook (Palgrave 2020) and his most recent monograph is “Hacking the Bomb” (Georgetown 2018), which unpacks the cyber threat to nuclear weapons. He is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security at the University of Birmingham, UK and a member of the Cyber-Nuclear Threats Task Force run by the US-based Nuclear Threat Initiative. Andrew was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Peace Institute in Norway, the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington DC, and the James Martin Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies in Monterey, California and a member of the Euro-Atlantic Next Generation Leaders Network. He is currently working on a 5-year, £1.5million project funded by the European Research Council investigating the technological and political drivers of a shift towards a Third Nuclear Age.