Description
As nuclear relationships between the great powers have increased in salience with Russia's 'nuclear blackmail' over Ukraine and the strengthening rivalry between the USA and China, this paper examines the potential for popular campaigns to shape a new global nuclear politics in the light of the historical experiences of antinuclear movements in the last 70 years. Based on a study of The Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons in Britain to be published in 2024, this paper explores the relationships between national and international campaigning; claims for the success and failure of the two previous mass movement phases (late 1950s/early 1960s and early 1980s); and the significance of goal proliferation - the extent to which antinuclear campaigns have merged into and even become submerged in wider social movements, including antiwar movements from Vietnam to Iraq and Gaza. The paper will discuss the relationships between the criteria of concrete policy impacts and wider educational, cultural and political effects in evaluating 'single-issue' social movements.
