The Chemical Weapons Taboo

Author : Richard M. Price
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501729543
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Chemical Weapons Taboo written by Richard M. Price and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard M. Price asks why, among all the ominous technologies of weaponry throughout the history of warfare, chemical weapons carry a special moral stigma. Something more seems to be at work than the predictable resistance people have expressed to any new weaponry, from the crossbow to nuclear bombs. Perceptions of chemical warfare as particularly abhorrent have been successfully institutionalized in international proscriptions and, Price suggests, understanding the sources of this success might shed light on other efforts at arms control.To explore the origins and meaning of the chemical weapons taboo, Price presents a series of case studies from World War I through the Gulf War of 1990–1991. He traces the moral arguments against gas warfare from the Hague Conferences at the turn of the century through negotiations for the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. From the Italian invasion of Ethiopia to the war between Iran and Iraq, chemical weapons have been condemned as the "poor man's bomb." Drawing upon insights from Michel Foucault to explain the role of moral norms in an international arena rarely sensitive to such pressures, he focuses on the construction of and mutations in the refusal to condone chemical weapons.

Author : Richard MacKay Price
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801433061
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Chemical Weapons Taboo written by Richard MacKay Price and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard M. Price asks why, among all the ominous technologies of weaponry throughout the history of warfare, chemical weapons carry a special moral stigma. Something more seems to be at work than the predictable resistance people have expressed to any new weaponry, from the crossbow to nuclear bombs. Perceptions of chemical warfare as particularly abhorrent have been successfully institutionalized in international proscriptions and, Price suggests, understanding the sources of this success might shed light on other efforts at arms control.To explore the origins and meaning of the chemical weapons taboo, Price presents a series of case studies from World War I through the Gulf War of 1990-1991. He traces the moral arguments against gas warfare from the Hague Conferences at the turn of the century through negotiations for the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. From the Italian invasion of Ethiopia to the war between Iran and Iraq, chemical weapons have been condemned as the "poor man's bomb." Drawing upon insights from Michel Foucault to explain the role of moral norms in an international arena rarely sensitive to such pressures, he focuses on the construction of and mutations in the refusal to condone chemical weapons.

Author : Michelle Bentley
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781526104717
Total Pages : 179 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Syria and the Chemical Weapons Taboo written by Michelle Bentley and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the Syria crisis, this book challenges the arguments in favour of the chemical weapons taboo, demonstrating how it can exacerbate a conflict.

Author : Jonathan Tucker
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0307430103
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book War of Nerves written by Jonathan Tucker and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important and revelatory book, Jonathan Tucker, a leading expert on chemical and biological weapons, chronicles the lethal history of chemical warfare from World War I to the present. At the turn of the twentieth century, the rise of synthetic chemistry made the large-scale use of toxic chemicals on the battlefield both feasible and cheap. Tucker explores the long debate over the military utility and morality of chemical warfare, from the first chlorine gas attack at Ypres in 1915 to Hitler’s reluctance to use nerve agents (he believed, incorrectly, that the U.S. could retaliate in kind) to Saddam Hussein’s gassing of his own people, and concludes with the emergent threat of chemical terrorism. Moving beyond history to the twenty-first century, War of Nerves makes clear that we are at a crossroads that could lead either to the further spread of these weapons or to their ultimate abolition.

Author : Michelle Bentley
Publisher : Manchester University Press
ISBN 13 : 1526104741
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Syria and the chemical weapons taboo written by Michelle Bentley and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-26 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses the Syria crisis and the role of chemical weapons in relation to US foreign policy. The Syrian government's use of such weapons and their subsequent elimination has dominated the US response to the conflict, where these are viewed as particularly horrific arms - a repulsion known as the chemical taboo. On the surface, this would seem to be an appropriate reaction: these are nasty weapons and eradicating them would ostensibly comprise a 'good' move. But this book reveals two new aspects of the taboo that challenge this prevailing view. First, actors use the taboo strategically to advance their own self-interested policy objectives. Second, that applying the taboo to Syria has actually exacerbated the crisis. As such, this book not only provides a timely analysis of Syria, but also a major and original rethink of the chemical taboo, as well as international norms more widely.

Author : Marion Girard
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 0803222238
Total Pages : 293 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Strange and Formidable Weapon written by Marion Girard and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2008-06-01 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The advent of poison gas in World War I shocked Britons at all levels of society, yet by the end of the conflict their nation was a leader in chemical warfare. Although never used on the home front, poison gas affected almost every segment of British society physically, mentally, or emotionally, proving to be an armament of total war. Through cartoons, military records, novels, treaties, and other sources, Marion Girard examines the varied ways different sectors of British society viewed chemical warfare, from the industrialists who promoted their toxic weapons while maintaining private control of production,øto the politicians who used gas while balancing the need for victory with the risk of developing a reputation for barbarity. Although most Britons considered gas a vile weapon and a symptom of the enemy?s inhumanity, many eventually condoned its use. ø The public debates about the future of gas extended to the interwar years, and evidence reveals that the taboo against poison gas was far from inevitable. A Strange and Formidable Weapon uncovers the complicated history of this weapon of total war and illustrates the widening involvement of society in warfare.

Author : Richard MacKay Price
Publisher : Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 680 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Genealogy of the Chemical Weapons Taboo written by Richard MacKay Price and published by Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International. This book was released on 1994 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Nina Tannenwald
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521524285
Total Pages : 472 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Nuclear Taboo written by Nina Tannenwald and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-12-20 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why have nuclear weapons not been used since Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945? Nina Tannenwald disputes the conventional answer of 'deterrence' in favour of what she calls a nuclear taboo - a widespread inhibition on using nuclear weapons - which has arisen in global politics. Drawing on newly released archival sources, Tannenwald traces the rise of the nuclear taboo, the forces that produced it, and its influence, particularly on US leaders. She analyzes four critical instances where US leaders considered using nuclear weapons (Japan 1945, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War 1991) and examines how the nuclear taboo has repeatedly dissuaded US and other world leaders from resorting to these 'ultimate weapons'. Through a systematic analysis, Tannenwald challenges conventional conceptions of deterrence and offers a compelling argument on the moral bases of nuclear restraint as well as an important insight into how nuclear war can be avoided in the future.

Author : Organisation mondiale de la santé
Publisher : World Health Organization
ISBN 13 : 9241546158
Total Pages : 365 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Public Health Response to Biological and Chemical Weapons written by Organisation mondiale de la santé and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2004-01-21 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second edition of this publication which focuses on the public health aspects of the possible deliberate use of biological or chemical agents. Issues discussed include: the key principles for public health planning, risk assessment, hazard identification and evaluation, risk management strategies, and response planning as part of existing national emergency plans, disease surveillance and early warning systems, the national and international legal framework, and international sources of assistance. Technical annexes cover a range of issues including chemical agents, toxins, biological agents, principles of protection, precautions against the sabotage of drinking water, food and other products, information resources and the affiliation of WHO Member States to the international treaties on biological and chemical weapons.

Author : Paul C. Avey
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501740393
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Tempting Fate written by Paul C. Avey and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why would countries without nuclear weapons even think about fighting nuclear-armed opponents? A simple answer is that no one believes nuclear weapons will be used. But that answer fails to consider why nonnuclear state leaders would believe that in the first place. In this superb unpacking of the dynamics of conflict under conditions of nuclear monopoly, Paul C. Avey argues that the costs and benefits of using nuclear weapons create openings that weak nonnuclear actors can exploit. Tempting Fate uses four case studies to show the key strategies available to nonnuclear states: Iraqi decision-making under Saddam Hussein in confrontations with the United States; Egyptian leaders' thinking about the Israeli nuclear arsenal during wars in 1969–70 and 1973; Chinese confrontations with the United States in 1950, 1954, and 1958; and a dispute that never escalated to war, the Soviet-United States tensions between 1946 and 1948 that culminated in the Berlin Blockade. Those strategies include limiting the scope of the conflict, holding chemical and biological weapons in reserve, seeking outside support, and leveraging international non-use norms. Counterintuitively, conventionally weak nonnuclear states are better positioned to pursue these strategies than strong ones, so that wars are unlikely when the nonnuclear state is powerful relative to its nuclear opponent. Avey demonstrates clearly that nuclear weapons cast a definite but limited shadow, and while the world continues to face various nuclear challenges, understanding conflict in nuclear monopoly will remain a pressing concern for analysts and policymakers.