Nuclear Rivalries

On the 14-15 June 2011 the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University will host a two day symposium on the prospects for cooperation and trust building between nuclear-armed powers and potential nuclear weapon states.

The ‘Nuclear Rivalries and Prospects for Cooperation and Trust-Building’ is the second annual symposium of the 'The Challenges to Trust-Building in Nuclear Worlds' project and is coordinated by the Department of International Politics and the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies.

The event is part of the three-year research project ‘The Challenges to Trust-Building in Nuclear Worlds’. The project is led by Professor Nicholas Wheeler of Aberystwyth University and supported by the RCUK’s programme ‘Global Uncertainties: Security for All in a Changing World’. The project’s overall goal is to explore the contribution that multidisciplinary research on trust can make to opening up new policy options for promoting cooperation and security in the nuclear field.

Professor Nicholas Wheeler, Professor in International Politics at Aberystwyth University said: “This year's symposium concentrates on the prospects for cooperation and trust-building between nuclear-armed powers as well as potential nuclear weapon states. A number of the presentations will focus on the great power relations between the United States, China and Russia; regional nuclear dynamics in South Asia and the Middle East; and conceptual dimensions of the study of trust at the international level.

“The symposium brings together academic experts from across the UK and European universities as well as practitioners from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and provides a forum for early career researchers, established academics and practitioners working in the fields of trust research and nuclear politics.”

The meeting will provide a forum for interaction between all three groups with a particular view to facilitating professional links for the early career researchers. The workshop will further contribute to enhancing collaboration between researchers across various social scientific disciplines such as international relations, psychology, and sociology.

For further information about the project on ‘The Challenges to Trust-Building in Nuclear Worlds’ visit www.aber.ac.uk/interpol/en/research/DDMI/research_trust_building.html.

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