<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Recently in Russian policy there was a return to the Cold War practices, which include, inter alia, nuclear deterrence, and even threatening to use nuclear weapons. That policy, however, is carried out in the changed international space compared with the times of the Cold War. The period of detente in relations between world powers was dominated inter alia by discussion on the humanitarian intervention. Human rights, tied to the value of justice, become the most important component of international order. Thus, justice has become the value of the international legal order equivalent to peace. In such a reality, the legitimacy of nuclear weapons should be based not only on the deterrence, but also on the need to protect human rights, tied with justice. Possession of nuclear weapons per se is contrary to this value. This fact should be taken into account in the world powers’ policies. Banning nuclear weapons, in accordance with the Radbruch formula, should be a result of these policies.</p></abstract>

Recently in Russian policy there was a return to the Cold War practices, which include, inter alia, nuclear deterrence, and even threatening to use nuclear weapons. That policy, however, is carried out in the changed international space compared with the times of the Cold War. The period of detente in relations between world powers was dominated inter alia by discussion on the humanitarian intervention. Human rights, tied to the value of justice, become the most important component of international order. Thus, justice has become the value of the international legal order equivalent to peace. In such a reality, the legitimacy of nuclear weapons should be based not only on the deterrence, but also on the need to protect human rights, tied with justice. Possession of nuclear weapons per se is contrary to this value. This fact should be taken into account in the world powers’ policies. Banning nuclear weapons, in accordance with the Radbruch formula, should be a result of these policies.

Possession of nuclear weapons – between legality and legitimization

Jan Długosz University in Czestochowa, Polish Instytut of Administration,

International and Comparative Law Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Possession of nuclear weapons \u2013 between legality and legitimization"}

Recently in Russian policy there was a return to the Cold War practices, which include, inter alia, nuclear deterrence, and even threatening to use nuclear...

Possession of nuclear weapons – between legality and legitimization

Published Online: Feb 07, 2017

Page range: 7 - 21

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/iclr-2016-0001

Keywords
nuclear weapons, legality, legitimization, cold war, deterrence, peace, justice

© 2016 Tomasz Srogosz, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Possession of nuclear weapons – between legality and legitimization

Published Online: Feb 07, 2017

Page range: 7 - 21

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/iclr-2016-0001

Keywordsnuclear weapons, legality, legitimization, cold war, deterrence, peace, justice

© 2016 Tomasz Srogosz, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
nuclear weapons, legality, legitimization, cold war, deterrence, peace, justice