Farewell to WMD: The Language and Science of Mass Destruction

dc.contributor.authorEnemark, Christian
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-07T22:13:39Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.date.updated2020-12-27T07:22:28Z
dc.description.abstractThis article critically assesses the ongoing use of the term �weapons of mass destruction� (WMD) in policy and academic discourse. Nuclear, biological and chemical weapons are commonly lumped together as WMD, but such conflation is misleading from a technological viewpoint and renders the term vulnerable to political manipulation. There are important scientific and strategic differences between weapon types, and glossing over these leads to confusion in accurately assessing and effectively addressing threats of mass destruction. WMD-based language obscures the paramount threat of nuclear weapons, exaggerates the destructive power of chemical weapons, and is unhelpful or counterproductive when used in the context of biological weapons. In the areas of deterrence, defence, and non-proliferation, WMD-based language can mischaracterize the challenges that are uniquely associated with each weapon type, and this potentially generates adverse security consequences flowing from the implementation of inadequate or misdirected countermeasures. The article concludes that it would be both desirable and feasible to abandon the term �WMD�.
dc.identifier.issn1352-3260
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/17104
dc.publisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis Group
dc.sourceContemporary Security Policy
dc.titleFarewell to WMD: The Language and Science of Mass Destruction
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue2
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage400
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage382
local.contributor.affiliationEnemark, Christian, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidEnemark, Christian, u3087931
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor160607 - International Relations
local.identifier.ariespublicationu3087931xPUB1
local.identifier.citationvolume32
local.identifier.doi10.1080/13523260.2011.590362
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84859146895
local.identifier.thomsonID000211684200007
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu3087931
local.type.statusPublished Version

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