Published together in this volume, the first two papers in the series cover America’s allies: France and the UK. Noted nuclear strategist Sir Lawrence Freedman examines how British leadership on nuclear limitations interacts with its defense planning. The French security policy expert Bruno Tertrais explains how French devotion to its deterrent may eventually be influenced by a multilateral push for zero nuclear weapons. Although the two states have very different views of the utility of nuclear weapons, the papers make clear that if the US and Russia made significant progress toward deep reductions in their own arsenals, the two West European nuclear powers would find it difficult to resist joining multilateral negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons from all nations.
In partnership with the World Security Institute, Stimson’s project on nuclear security seeks to examine the obstacles blocking the path to zero nuclear weapons in order to help all responsible governments perceive negotiated nuclear disarmament a viable and practical policy option.