State-centric, production-based climate governance has failed to deliver intergenerational justice, particularly for Africa. This article reframes the debate around the personal carbon footprint (PerCF), arguing that consumption-based accounting more accurately locates moral responsibility and that the subsistence-luxury distinction is essential for equitable policy in developing economies. A Nigerian case study illustrates both the structural constraints inflating involuntary emissions and the rising luxury footprint of an urban elite. Three reforms are proposed: a progressive bifurcated carbon tax, a national clean energy access fund, and a digital PerCF tracker.
Against the backdrop of an accelerating climate crisis, legal frameworks are maturing globally. Due to litigation, they already establish legal obligations for states and private corporations to implement appropriate reduction regulations and measures for their greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, no globally agreed framework legally obligating individuals to reduce emissions has yet emerged. This article attempts to establish a legal basis for individual emission reduction obligations in light of this situation. Using international human rights conventions as a foundation, it argues that certain reduction obligations for individuals might exist, based on their respective circumstances. This conclusion is significant as a theoretical premise for incorporating individuals as key actors in future climate change countermeasures.
Behind every modern nuclear arsenal lies a robust industrial ecosystem that quietly sustains it. While existing literature has primarily focused on the state’s strategic motivations behind nuclear development, far less attention has been paid to the role of defence contractors in sustaining these arsenals. Their role in the production, maintenance and modernisation of the nuclear weapons programme remains largely understudied. This article, while examining the corporate-state nexus, undertakes case studies of the U.S., U.K. and France to explain how the deterrence architecture of these countries relies on industrial partnerships. It argues that companies, including Airbus, Safran, BAE Systems, Babcock International, Boeing, and General Dynamics, not only provide technical expertise but also exert influence through lobbying and financing of policy-oriented think tanks. Instead of suggesting direct causation, this article highlights how these mechanisms could be the factors shaping the broader nuclear policy debates.
As living memory of the use of nuclear weapons dies out, lessons from the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki could become unlearned. Thus, the voices of youth antinuclear activists have never been more important. Drawing from 24 oral history interviews conducted in Japan, this article discusses the ‘greying effect’ of the antinuclear movement. First, it outlines a background and theoretical framework of youth political socialisation. Second, it discusses oral history as a method. Third, it traces young people’s early encounters with the concept of ‘nuclear weapons’, discussing forces that foster and prevent meaningful youth participation in the antinuclear movement. It argues that while Japan’s peace education sustains unique levels of youth engagement with atomic bomb materials and historical events, it is perceived as insufficient to motivate political action, movement participation, and can at times prevent it.
What is the public perception of nuclear weapons in the UK? And what is the role of the media in shaping this perception? This article examines these questions in the context of the ‘Third Nuclear Age’: a new era of multipolarity, increasing tensions, emerging technologies, and the collapse of longstanding arms control agreements. I begin by placing representations of, and attitudes towards, nuclear deterrence and disarmament within today’s broader political communication landscape. I then examine several illustrative examples of how nuclear weapons are represented in the UK, before examining recent British public opinion about nuclear weapons. I argue that the public understanding of nuclear weapons in the UK is not static or singular but shaped by dynamic, contested narratives that circulate through policy discourse, traditional and digital media, and popular culture. Drawing on framing theory, discourse analysis, and recent public opinion data, I examine how media representations as well as public perceptions and emotions shape what nuclear futures are imagined as possible for the UK in the Third Nuclear Age.
Sustainable nuclear non-proliferation is only possible in a world without nuclear weapons. As long as there are nuclear weapons, the odds are that nuclear proliferation will happen, despite the existence of a comprehensive nuclear non-proliferation regime. The next proliferator may be Iran. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)(2015) – better known as the Iran deal – was a very good effort to constrain Iran’s nuclear program. In exchange for sanctions relief, Iran promised to restrict the size of its civilian nuclear program. President Trump withdrew from the Agreement in 2018. As a result, Iran is now very close to acquiring nuclear weapons. The bombings of Iranian nuclear facilities by Israel and the US in 2025 have only caused a delay. Knowledge cannot be bombed. It remains to be seen whether President Trump will succeed in signing an agreement with Iran in his second term.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has rekindled global anxieties about the potential use of nuclear weapons. It has exposed the complexities of nuclear deterrence in a highly volatile security environment. As tensions have escalated, the risk of nuclear hostilities – whether tactical, demonstrative, or accidental – has become a major point of concern. The Russian administration has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons and announced an update of its nuclear doctrine in November 2024, thereby lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. Therefore, in critically examining Russia’s nuclear doctrine, this article aims to identify the key triggers for escalation and evaluate the strategic responses of the international community. It investigates how NATO countries, supported by the US’s extended nuclear deterrence commitment, have maintained a calibrated approach, combining military assistance to Ukraine and a high level of nuclear readiness, to ensure a precarious balance that prevented a major nuclear escalation. Underscoring the relevance of nuclear deterrence in the Ukraine conflict, it further delineates how Russia employed nuclear sabre-rattling as a deterrent and an enabler to achieve its strategic goals. Likewise, assessing the impact of Donald Trump’s re-election and his ‘America First’ mantra on the Ukraine conflict, this article discusses potential ways to prevent the conflict from going nuclear, while reinforcing the significance of renewed multilateral cooperation, diplomatic engagement, and a unified Western resolve to deter Russian aggression.
In today’s multilateral and conflict-ridden world, the proliferation of nuclear weapons gives humanity the means to bring about its extinction. The war in Ukraine and other tensions around the world have made the deployment of nuclear weapons more likely than ever. Given these unprecedented threats, a conscious effort towards building long-term peace is crucial. This study follows four levels of inquiry. First, it explores the theoretical views of armed conflicts, analysing their causes and their consequences. Second, it conceptualises peace initiatives in the context of peace and conflict studies, exploring these definitions in relation to their significance for future generations. Third, it reviews existing peacebuilding approaches from different perspectives and re-emphasises their strengths and shortcomings in the face of emerging conflicts. Fourth and crucially, it proposes three levels of global priority for achieving long-term peace, ultimately arguing for the central role of the UN in peacebuilding initiatives. This study justifies how eliminating nuclear weapons and encouraging proactive diplomacy are crucial steps for achieving long-term peace.
In recent years, the concept of the ‘Anthropocene’ has increasingly become a central analytical scheme for current social and ecological crises. Based on the thesis that the structural problems of the present arise from unresolved injustices between past generations, which reproduce a life-threatening danger towards future generations, this essay calls central assumptions underlying modernity into question. This essay illuminates the relationship between ecological crises, colonialism, and the classical humanist historiography of modernity. Ultimately, this essay concludes that the possibility of securing long-term peace is only feasible with radical social, economic, and political transformations, without which our idea of peace will remain deficient in the future.
Since 2021, the FRFG has organised Walkshops on the topics social security and intergenerational contracts, atomic waste, the coal phase-out, and climate change. In 2025, the Walkshop will focus on the topic ‘Nuclear risks and long-term peacekeeping’.
