Fearsome security: the role of nuclear weapons.

Debate in the academe regarding the continued possession of nuclear weapons has been polarized between the abolitionists and the marginalizers. The Clinton administration has said that its policy is to reduce nuclear weapons in tandem with Russia and to retain a few thousand weapons just in case they are needed. This policy may seem unfashionable compared with academic debates, but it is the right one. Nuclear weapons transform the issue of peace into an essential security concern and has no equal in its deterrent effect against war.

A Hiroshima-size nuclear bomb would be about a th