Thérèse Delpech

Last updated

Thérèse Delpech (11 February 1948 17 January 2012 [1] [2] ) was a French international relations expert and prolific public intellectual. [3] Thèrese Delpech graduated from the École Normale Supérieure and went on to pass the agrégation of philosophy. During the rest of her career she concentrated on international relations issues. Delpech had been director of strategic studies at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) from 1997. [4] She served as an adviser to Alain Juppé during his tenure as Prime Minister (1995–1997). She was also a researcher with CERI at Sciences Po, commissioner with the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and international adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross, [4] and was "one of France's foremost thinkers on international security." [5] Breaking with many French intellectuals she supported the 2003 American-led intervention in Iraq and had since advocated stronger sanctions against Iran.

Contents

She was ranked 81 in the Prospect Magazine 2008 Top 100 Public Intellectuals Poll. [6] In 2012, RAND posthumously published what will perhaps be her last book, a detailed study of decades of RAND literature on nuclear deterrence. [7]

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

Nuclear weapon Explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion reactions. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.

Mutual assured destruction Doctrine of military strategy

Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of deterrence, which holds that the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of those same weapons. The strategy is a form of Nash equilibrium in which, once armed, neither side has any incentive to initiate a conflict or to disarm.

Nuclear strategy Doctrines and plans for production and use of atomic weapons

Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons.

Zalmay Khalilzad Afghan-American diplomat (born 1951)

Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is an Afghan-American diplomat and foreign policy expert.

Albert Wohlstetter American political scientist

Albert James Wohlstetter was an American political scientist noted for his influence on U.S. nuclear strategy during the Cold War. He and his wife Roberta Wohlstetter, an accomplished historian and intelligence expert, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan on November 7, 1985.

The phrase "balance of terror" is usually, but not invariably, used in reference to the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Force de dissuasion Frances former nuclear triad

The Force de frappe, or Force de dissuasion after 1961, is the designation of what used to be a triad of air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons intended for dissuasion, the French term for deterrence. The French Nuclear Force, part of the French military, is the third largest nuclear-weapons force in the world, after the nuclear triads of the United States and the Russian Federation.

Deterrence theory Military strategy during the Cold War with regard to the use of nuclear weapons

Deterrence theory refers to scholarship and practice on how threats or limited force by one party can convince another party to refrain from initiating some course of action. The topic gained increased prominence as a military strategy during the Cold War with regard to the use of nuclear weapons and is related to but distinct from the concept of mutual assured destruction, which models the preventative nature of full-scale nuclear attack that would devastate both parties in a nuclear war. The central problem of deterrence revolves around how to credibly threaten military action or nuclear punishment on the adversary despite its costs to the deterrer.

Objectivism and libertarianism Philosophical interactions

Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism has been and continues to be a major influence on the right-libertarian movement, particularly libertarianism in the United States. Many right-libertarians justify their political views using aspects of Objectivism.

Nuclear weapons debate

The nuclear weapons debate refers to the controversies surrounding the threat, use and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Even before the first nuclear weapons had been developed, scientists involved with the Manhattan Project were divided over the use of the weapon. The only time nuclear weapons have been used in warfare was during the final stages of World War II when USAAF B-29 Superfortress bombers dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945. The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender and the U.S.'s ethical justification for them have been the subject of scholarly and popular debate for decades.

Bernard Brodie (military strategist)

Bernard Brodie was an American military strategist well known for establishing the basics of nuclear strategy. Known as "the American Clausewitz," and "the original nuclear strategist," he was an initial architect of nuclear deterrence strategy and tried to ascertain the role and value of nuclear weapons after their creation.

André Beaufre French general and military strategist

André Beaufre was a French Army officer and military strategist who attained the rank of Général d'Armée before his retirement in 1961.

Arnold Kramish was an American nuclear physicist and author who was associated with the Manhattan Project. While working on the project, he was nearly killed in an accident at the Philadelphia Naval Yard where a prototype thermal diffusion isotope separation device was being constructed. The priest of the Philadelphia Naval Yard offered last rites to Kramish, who refused, as he was Jewish. After World War II, he wrote numerous books on nuclear issues. He is perhaps best known for his book The Griffin - the greatest untold espionage story of World War II, about Paul Rosbaud, who passed important scientific and military information from Germany to the Allies.

Nuclear peace is a theory of international relations that argues that under some circumstances, nuclear weapons can induce stability and decrease the chances of crisis escalation. In particular, nuclear weapons are said to have induced stability during the Cold War since both the United States and the Soviet Union possessed mutual second-strike retaliation capability, which eliminated the possibility of nuclear victory for either side. Proponents of nuclear peace argue that controlled nuclear proliferation may be beneficial for inducing stability. Critics of nuclear peace argue that nuclear proliferation increases the chance of nuclear war and of nuclear material falling into the hands of violent non-state actors that are free from the threat of nuclear retaliation.

Nuclear weapons and Israel Israels possible control of nuclear weapons

The State of Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. Estimates of Israel's stockpile range between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads, and the country is believed to possess the ability to deliver them in several methods, including by aircraft, as submarine-launched cruise missiles, and via the Jericho series of intermediate to intercontinental range ballistic missiles. Its first deliverable nuclear weapon is thought to have been completed in late 1966 or early 1967; which would make it the sixth country in the world to have developed them.

Operation Giant Lance was an undercover military operation by the United States in which the primary objective was to apply military pressure towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Initiated on October 27, 1969, President Richard Nixon authorized a squadron of 18 B-52 bombers to patrol the Arctic polar ice caps and escalate the nuclear threat poised. The goal was to coerce both the Soviet Union and North Vietnam to agree on favourable terms with the US, and conclusively end the Vietnam War. The operation's effectiveness was also largely built on Nixon's consistent madman theory diplomacy, in order to influence Moscow's decision even more. The operation was kept top secret from both the general public and higher authorities within the Strategic Air Command, intended to only be noticed by Russian intelligence. The operation lasted one month before being called off.

Security studies

Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict and national security.

William C. Martel American political scientist

William C. Martel was a scholar who specialized in studying the leadership and policymaking processes in organizations, strategic planning, cyberwarfare and militarisation of space, and technology innovation. He taught at the U.S. Air War College and U.S. Naval War College, and performed research for DARPA and the RAND Corporation. He later become Associate Professor of International Security Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a position he held until his death in 2015.

Lynn E. Davis

Lynn Etheridge Davis was United States Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs from 1993 to 1997.

Minimum Credible Deterrence is the defence and strategic principle on which the atomic weapons programme of Pakistan is based. This doctrine is not a part of the nuclear doctrine, which is designed for the use of the atomic weapons in a full-scale declared war if the conditions of the doctrine are surpassed. Instead, the policy of the Minimum Credible Deterrence falls under minimal deterrence as an inverse to the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), which is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking any military actions against Pakistan, as it did in 1971, when Pakistan started the war. Pakistan refuses to adopt No first use policy, while the other regional powers India and China had adopted the policy. Pakistan's foreign minister Shamshad Ahmad had warned that if Pakistan is ever invaded or attacked, it will use "any weapon in its arsenal" to defend itself.

References

  1. "INFO FIGARO - Décès de Thérèse Delpech".
  2. "La mort de Thérèse Delpech".
  3. "CNS Mourns the Passing of Thérèse Delpech". Archived from the original on 3 January 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Iran and the Bomb: The Abdication of International Responsibility". Barnes & Noble.
  5. "Savage Century: Back to Barbarism". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
  6. "Intellectuals". Prospect Magazine. 2009. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  7. Delpech, Thérèse (2012). Nuclear Deterrence in the 21st Century: Lessons from the Cold War for a New Era of Strategic Piracy (PDF). Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. ISBN   978-0-8330-5930-7.
  8. 1 2 3 "Thérèse Delpech at B&N". Barnes & Noble. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013.