Thesis 3186407

As debates on Advanced Conventional Weapons and the increasingly blurred line between conventional and nuclear deterrence intensify, it becomes clear that there needs to be a deeper understanding on how these weapons affect the nuclear posture of states. Current research on ACW’s focus on these weapons as being separate from their nuclear counterparts, which fits traditional deterrence theory. However, little is known about how nuclear doctrines are affected by the entanglement of nuclear and conventional forces. This research explores the effects of U.S. ACW’s on Russia’s nuclear doctrine post-2013, in order to expand on, and to some extent challenge current research in the field of nuclear politics. It covers how Russia perceives these weapons in the context of global and national stability, the survivability of its own nuclear arsenal, and it aims to uncover the doctrinal responses to them. The findings reveal that Russia does indeed find U.S. ACW’s to be a threat to its...Show moreAs debates on Advanced Conventional Weapons and the increasingly blurred line between conventional and nuclear deterrence intensify, it becomes clear that there needs to be a deeper understanding on how these weapons affect the nuclear posture of states. Current research on ACW’s focus on these weapons as being separate from their nuclear counterparts, which fits traditional deterrence theory. However, little is known about how nuclear doctrines are affected by the entanglement of nuclear and conventional forces. This research explores the effects of U.S. ACW’s on Russia’s nuclear doctrine post-2013, in order to expand on, and to some extent challenge current research in the field of nuclear politics. It covers how Russia perceives these weapons in the context of global and national stability, the survivability of its own nuclear arsenal, and it aims to uncover the doctrinal responses to them. The findings reveal that Russia does indeed find U.S. ACW’s to be a threat to its strategic stability, leading the country down a path of an arms race to maintain parity with the U.S. in terms of their conventional capabilities. More importantly, it is revealed that besides modernization efforts of its conventional and dual-capable arsenal, Russia is now doubling down on the signaling of its nuclear triad through lowered nuclear escalation thresholds and increased strategic ambiguity. This opposes the dominant framework of traditional deterrence that treats nuclear and conventional weapons as separate from the other when analyzing a state’s nuclear doctrine. Further research could benefit from using a comparative case-study to find out if the findings apply to other nuclear powers as well. Moreover, it would be enlightening to analyze how the proliferation of ACW’s and their entanglement with nuclear forces shape and define regional conflictsShow less

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Thesis 3186407