Nuclear Inertia

The first book to study post-Cold War U.S. nuclear weapons policy. It is based on extensive original research with dozens of the key players, and sheds important new light US foreign policy. "Nuclear Inertia" examines why, despite the Cold War having ended more than ten years ago, the US still maintains an arsenal of over 10 000 nuclear warheads. Most explanations for this are to be found not in the structure of the international system but in domestic politics. Tom Sauer ascribes the lack of change to bureaucratic resistance, dogmatic thinking and lack of political leadership. Clinton tried to change US policy by initiating the 1993-1994 Nuclear Posture Review but was blocked by bureaucratic opposition. Sauer suggests that this points to a lack of civilian control over the military during the Clinton administration.