ABSTRACT
Today's revived dialogue regarding the morality of nuclear deterrence can be more easily understood if viewed in its historic context. But, as a review of the literature on nuclear deterrence illustrates, the conjunction has an intrinsic moral dimension that encompasses both the traditional issues of just-war doctrine and the analyses relating to such nonmilitary issues as economic instruments of statecraft, technology, and global interdependence. In this chapter, the authors illustrate the intellectual origins of today's dialogue and trace the divergent approaches and positions from which assessments of the morality of deterrence After the Cold War originate. True to its purpose, The Challenge of Peace raised public consciousness regarding the moral ends and means of nuclear deterrence. Many observers shared the bishops' concern about the moral ambiguities of nuclear deterrence but concluded that its likely endurance required that a stable modus vivendi with nuclear weapons be maintained.
