Working group 6: Arms control, non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament
Leader: Dr Thomas Jonter
The academic study of nuclear weapons focusing on questions relating to security and strategy faces a particular set of difficulties concerning secrecy. States lack the capacity to draw systematic lessons from past cases, and scholars have adopted different methods of studying these issues. As a result, the state of knowledge and “know-how” is scattered rather than cumulative. Furthermore, a U.S.-centric approach continues to shape research agendas and data collection.
Against this backdrop, Working Group 6 will lay the foundation for a more cumulative and systematic approach. It will proceed with this effort through three sequential clusters: 1) empirical foundations, 2) past experiences and new tools, and 3) emerging challenges. We will pursue a comparative approach of studying past lessons, new tools and future prospects for nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation to facilitate a rigorous discussion and relevant outputs.
Working group leader: Dr Thomas Jonter
Dr. Thomas Jonter is professor of International Relations at the Department of Economic History and International Relations, Stockholm University (SU), and Visiting Professor at the Alva Myrdal Centre, Uppsala University.
He has a PhD in History from Uppsala University and a degree in Organisational Leadership (Postgraduate Diploma) from University of Oxford. Jonter was head of the Department of Economic History and International Relations, 2006-2009 and 2016-2020 and was director of the Stockholm University Graduate School of International Studies, SU, 2013-2016.
Since 2024, he leads the Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation working group at the Alva Myrdal Centre. Dr. Jonter has also been a visiting researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Stanford University and Cornell University. Since 2015, he is chair of the Swedish Pugwash group.
Jonter's research is focused on disarmament policy, nuclear non-proliferation and NATO's enlargement from a Nordic perspective. He has published a number of books and articles and received the 2019 Atomic Bomb Diploma from Swedish Physicians Against Nuclear Weapons for, amongst other things, the book The Key to Nuclear Restraint. The Swedish Plans to Acquire Nuclear Weapons, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). He is on the editorial board of Global Nuclear Histories, McGill-Queen's University Press and is an advisor to the research programme Nuclear Knowledges, Sciences Po, Paris.
Publications from working group 6
A selection of publications from Working Group 6 are listed below, in order of publication year.
2024
- Mark S. Bell. 2024. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose: The Old Lessons about Nuclear Weapons being Re-Observed in Ukraine
- Thomas Jonter & Emma Rosengren. 2024. Advocating Nuclear Disarmament as NATO Members — Lessons from the Past and Possible Routes ahead for Finland and Sweden