Resolved: States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals (file, bibliography, argument list)

421 page initial file —

General

On creating the conditions for nuclear disarmament (2019)

Related: Should the US expand and modernize its nuclear arsenal?

The Millennials’ Nuclear Weapons Dilemma (2019).  When survival demands one to be unflinchingly red in tooth and claw, the logic of brutality prevails. This persuasive fact compels the development of weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, chemical, biological, etc. No religion, peace evangelist, nor holy man has yet managed to remove this psychological compulsion because man is not a rational but a rationalizing animal, forever ready to defend his prejudices and irrational beliefs inherited from his ancestors. Humanity has ample knowledge and first-hand experience of the humanitarian consequences that accrue from such defences. Yet, the question: “to arm or not to arm” is intractable because the trust worthiness of decision makers entrusted with its resolution can never be established; their intent cannot be infallibly assessed. We can never know when a decision maker who talks of peace, is not plotting war. To win in any adversarial game, deception is a fundamental right. To overturn that, man must change. History is replete with peace treaties that were not worth the paper they were written on.

Key Documents

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Websites

Nuclear Disarmament @ SIPRI

Journal for Peace & Nuclear Disarmament

Nuclear disarmament @ RAND

Nuclear Disarmament @ Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

General

Nuclear Disaramament: A Critical Assessment (2019). This is a book that has arguments on both sides.

The NPT and the conditions for nuclear disarmament (2019)

Is nuclear disarmament set to self-destruct? (2019)

The Legality of Nuclear Weapons for use and deterrence (2018)

A dialogue on the conditions for nuclear disarmament (2018)

As the US demands nuclear disarmament, it expands its own arsenal  (2018)

Our deep divide over nuclear disarmament (2018)

Nuclear weapons under international law: An Overview (2014)

Affirmative


Why we need to eliminate nuclear weapons—and how to do it
(2019)

Nuclear disarmament and the protection of cultural heritage (2017)

Nuclear disarmament and Nonproliferation
(2017)

All nuclear weapons are bad (2018)

Toward a humanitarian ban on nuclear weapons (2018)

The NPT and conditions for nuclear disarmament (2019)

Facing the central questions of nuclear disarmament (2018)

Negative Counterplans

No First Use of Nuclear Weapons (2018)

Arms Control Counterplan

Russia nuclear forces and the prospect for arms control

Japan

Implications of a nuclear weapons ban treaty for Japan (2018)

 

Affirmative

Advantages

Nuclear proliferation and war

General nuclear war risks
Environmental harms
Peace dividend

Nuclear terrorism

Kritik Ground

Security K
Settler Colonialkism

Scenarios
(a) India-Pakistan
(b) Korea
(c) China-US
(d) Russia-US
(e) Iran-Israel, Iran-Saudi Arabia

Disarmament works/A2: Cheating

Negative

Disadvantages

Conventional weapons shift bad
Precision Guided Missile (PGM) shift bad

Nukes deter conventional war
Nuclear weapons disposal
Deter alien attacks

Disarmament means more nuclear material, material bad
Disarmament leaves material vulnerable to terrorist theft

Russian aggression in Europe
Japanese aggression Asia
China aggression in Asia

Russian nukes needed to stop an invasion from Western Europe
China nukes needed to prevent Japanese imperialism
Indian nukes needed to stop a China invasion

Alllied Prolif
— Japan
— South Korea
— Saudi Arabia
— Germany
— Taiwan

Asteroid deflection

China nationalism — Xi will be sacked if he gives up the nukes or he will be under pressure to take back Taiwan
Indian nationalism– Giving up nukes kills Modi & the BJP politically

Trump good/bad 2020
Political capital — USMCA

Counterplans

Arms control (general)
No First Use
CTBT ratification
Small arsenals
Virtual Arsenals
De-Alert

 

Consult China
Consult Japan
Consult NATO
Consult Russia

Solvency Answers

Countries won’t disarm
Cheating

Negotiated reductions

Kritiks — Topic Specific

Settler colonialism — waste from weapons will end up on Native American lands
Waste
Weaponitis

Kritiks — General

Anti-Blackness
Anthropocentrism
Borders
Capitalism
Psychoanalysis