Anxieties about the dangers inherent in nuclear weapons were the defining feature of the Cold War era. On the negative side, the entire period was characterized by acute fears that the superpower tension would escalate into a nuclear exchange, existential security concerns would drive scores of additional states to acquire nuclear weapons, and, perhaps worst of all, that terrorists might be able to get their hands on nuclear weapons. Thankfully, none of these frightening prospects materialized. Nuclear weapons were never used, nor did many additional states acquire nukes. And the extensively discussed apprehension about the terrorists’ quest for nuclear weapons was also largely unfounded. Yet, a series of terrifying nuclear crises did take place during the Cold War, as did an aggressive nuclear arms race that drove the United States and the Soviets to build unimaginably huge nuclear arsenals. On the positive side, however, possession of nuclear weapons did ultimately play an indispensable role in dissuading nuclear powers from fighting other nuclear-armed states directly, and the provision of nuclear-backed extended security guarantees proved indispensable in stemming nuclear proliferation by those non-nuclear states facing existential risks.
With the end of the Cold War, the role of nuclear weapons in safeguarding security began to subside, alongside a dramatic scaling back of most nuclear arsenals as well as their level of readiness. Yet this process failed to produce the hoped-for peace dividend, let alone the much-hyped quest for universal nuclear disarmament, or global zero. Moreover, rivalries and conflicts merely shifted into other domains, most prominently conventional, cyber, and space. Cyber, in particular, has gradually ascended to a role somewhat reminiscent of nuclear weapons during the Cold War, becoming a significant currency of international re ..
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