ABSTRACT

This chapter shows why improvements in scientific understanding of the consequences of nuclear war have profound implications for nuclear war policies and the quest for genuine global peace and security. Military planners have long devised strategies of deterrence and of fighting nuclear war with incomplete and misleading understanding of the likely consequences of their actions. The chapter discusses the present scientific understanding of the global disruptions to climate and agriculture that could follow nuclear war. It summarises the results of a study of the likely consequences of nuclear war for New Zealand. The chapter looks at the consequences of the failure of deterrence in both global and local terms. The Bangkok conference also recognised the importance of moving beyond the general, global-level studies to a series of national case studies. A national case study on New Zealand that included the wider impacts was underway at the time of the Bangkok conference.