Wargames and the sources of nuclear restraint

The theme for this year's Wargaming Network Public Lecture series is advancing wargaming as an academic discipline and features speakers who have made important new contributions to developing wargaming theory and applications. This second lecture focuses on wargames and the sources of nuclear restraint.

Speaker: Reid Pauly, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Brown University and Dean's Assistant Professor of Nuclear Security and Policy at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

Chair: Ivanka Barzashka, Managing Director of the King's Wargaming Network.

Is there a normative prohibition on the use of nuclear weapons? Recent scholarship has cast doubt on the existence of a norm of nuclear non-use among the American people. But the public does not make decisions about using nuclear weapons. In this lecture, based on research published in International Security and subsequent work, Reid Pauly will investigate the reluctance of American policymakers to use nuclear weapons in historical political-military wargames. He will also discuss the methodological advantages—and challenges—of using wargames as a source of data for political scientists.

Biography

Reid Pauly is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Brown University and the Dean's Assistant Professor of Nuclear Security and Policy at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Pauly earned his Ph.D. from MIT and has held fellowships at the Belfer Center (Harvard Kennedy School) and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (Stanford University). His work has been published in International Security, The Nonproliferation Review, and edited volumes. He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled “The Assurance Dilemma in Coercive International Politics.”

Attendees are invited to review the following publications regarding this research.

• Pauly, Reid B. C., 'Would U.S. Leaders Push the Button? Wargames and the Sources of Nuclear Restraint,' International Security, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Fall 2018): 151-192.
• Erik Lin-Greenberg, Reid B.C. Pauly, and Jacquelyn Schneider, 'Wargaming for Political Science Research,' SSRN working paper, August 2020.

Please register for the lecture via the link above to receive the information for attending this online event.