ABSTRACT
Reactions to the 2018 US Nuclear Posture Review have ranged from highlighting its continuity with the views of the Obama administration, on the one hand, to warning that it is ‘hastening the rise of a more dangerous world’ by increasing reliance on nuclear weapons, on the other. The challenge is to create an updated concept of arms control to incorporate new technologies, crossing domains. The 2018 NPR describes a world defined by strategic uncertainty deriving from changes in technology and geopolitics. Strategic stability is typically defined as encompassing crisis stability and arms-race stability. While the NPR considers the implications of the new strategic stability on many aspects of America’s nuclear posture, the same consideration is not given to arms control. Most notably, at present it is extremely hard to envisage further progress until disputes around compliance with the INF Treaty are resolved.
