On December 11, 2012, VCDNP hosted the launch of a new book, Less is Better: Nuclear Restraint at Low Numbers, by Dr. Malcolm Chalmers. The book was published by Routledge in October 2012 and is part of the Royal United Services Institute's (RUSI) Whitehall Papers.
Dr. Chalmers is Research Director and Director of the UK Defence Policy program at RUSI and a Special Adviser to the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. Less is Better explores the option of incrementally decreasing the US and Russian nuclear arsenals together with restraint on part of other states possessing nuclear arms. While such approach would not resolve all issues of nuclear disarmament, it would still result in a world with much fewer nuclear weapons and would also help enhance mutual trust, reduce the risks of escalation in case of conflict, and set the stage for much deeper reductions.
During the event at VCDNP, Dr. Chalmers presented the key findings of his book and discussed the practical issues of reductions that could be pursued under existing arms control frameworks. Dr. Nikolai Sokov of VCDNP commented on the book in his capacity as moderator. In the subsequent discussion, the panelists and the audience discussed a broad range of issues regarding the most effective methods of nuclear disarmament and the circumstances that could facilitate this process; the possible parameters of multilateralizing the process of arms reductions; the need to change intellectual and political frameworks that underlie policies of some nuclear weapons states, such as nuclear parity; as well as the challenges faced by various individual states possessing nuclear arms during the process of reductions.
Less is Better is available for purchase online through Taylor and Francis.
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415814225/
