Neither MAD nor even: Looking beyond Trump's Missile Defense Review

Abstract

In discussions about the Missile Defense Review (MDR), released in mid-January 2019, important questions are not being asked. Is the deployment of missile defence advisable in the first place? Does missile defence stabilise or destabilise strategic relations between nuclear-armed states? Does it make crises more or less likely to occur? Does it make states more or less likely to use nuclear weapons early in a crisis? The normalisation of missile defence, despite the enduring problems it poses, should be resisted and challenged.