{"product_id":"the-rise-and-fall-of-nuclearism-fear-and-faith-as-determinants-of-the-arms-race-paperback","title":"The Rise and Fall of Nuclearism: Fear and Faith as Determinants of the Arms Race - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSheldon Ungar\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe radical changes in the Soviet bloc and the ending of the Cold War have made the sheer absurdity of the arms race transparent to virtually all observers. Yet none of the current theories of the arms race provides a coherent and systematic account of how, in the belated words of \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, such a \"pathology\" developed in the first place. Moreover, none of these theories can readily address--much less explain--the rapid shifts in attitudes toward nuclear weapons that occurred at the start and at the end of the 1980s.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile not denying explanatory value to bureaucratic, technical, political, and economic factors, \u003ci\u003eThe Rise and Fall of Nuclearism\u003c\/i\u003e focuses attention instead on the cultural dimensions of the arms race. It traces the long-term secular changes in Western societies that made the faith in \"nuclearism\" possible to begin with; and it draws on sociological concepts to explain how such a misplaced faith accrued to nuclear weapons and why this faith eventually came undone. The concept of \"moral panic\" is central to the argument. Ungar shows that moral panics were precipitated by authentic surges of fear responding to perceived Soviet challenges to American nuclear supremacy; these panics provided the political leverage for large-scale nuclear buildups and made possible the growth of the military-industrial complex in the United States. Elite efforts to orchestrate panics, however, typically failed or backfired. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe key to understanding the episodic nature of the arms race, Ungar argues, lies in the dynamic oscillation between nuclear worship, which viewed the \"bomb\" as the source of salvation, and nuclear dread, which conjured up images of vaporized cities and an end to civilization. In the concluding chapter he discusses what role nuclear fear--about proliferation, for instance--may continue to play in the post-Cold War world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSheldon Ungar is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 228\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.52 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 15, 1992\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52404093813041,"sku":"9780271026008","price":60.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0958\/3486\/5969\/files\/aE1pMUw3aHZZSVlMM2tqZGpXRzBsUT09.webp?v=1768927957","url":"https:\/\/www.welibooks.com\/products\/the-rise-and-fall-of-nuclearism-fear-and-faith-as-determinants-of-the-arms-race-paperback","provider":"Welibooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}