Description
This paper critically examines discourse about nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine war. Drawing on scholarship that recognizes the influence of deterrence practices in the Russian-Ukraine conflict, it investigates parallel sites where deterrence messaging is reinforced. It primarily investigates political discourse and diplomatic narratives, including narratives that do not explicitly contain nuclear references. Using a feminist poststructuralist lens, I examine how discourses that condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reinforce deterrence signalling and the nuclear status quo. I expand on existing understandings of nuclear deterrence as a rationalistic framework based on military capacities and relations. Feminist poststructuralist theory can illustrate how nuclear deterrence signalling works through an emotional language about “nuclear responsibility.” The paper investigates whether this parallel discourse about responsible nuclear possessors operates as deterrence in disguise. Deterrence may not simply be about material capabilities, but rests upon supporting discourses that reinforce dominant knowledge about weapons, nuclear possessors, and global norms about nuclear responsibility that contribute to existing nuclear power dynamics in international relations.
