Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons’ Use Preferences in Europe

Michal Onderco; Tom W. Etienne; Michal Smetana

doi:10.1093/fpa/orac022

Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons’ Use Preferences in Europe

Michal Onderco, Tom W. Etienne, Michal Smetana

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Abstract

Does partisan ideology influence whether Europeans are willing to use nuclear weapons, and if so, how? The US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe have been at the core of European security since the Cold War, but we have still yet to learn what would make Europeans be willing to support their use. In this paper, we present the results of a survey, in which we asked citizens in Germany and the Netherlands about their views on the use of the US nuclear weapons stationed on their territory in four distinct scenarios. Our results indicate that voters of right-wing parties are more likely to approve of the use of nuclear weapons in both countries. There are, however, important differences between the two countries in terms of the degree to which the participants oppose the use of nuclear weapons. These results have implications for NATO’s nuclear deterrence posture.

Original language	English
Article number	orac022
Journal	Foreign Policy Analysis
Volume	18
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/fpa/orac022
Publication status	Published - Oct 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
their helpful advice. We also thank Florian Boeller, Falk Ostermann, Martin Senn, and Wolfgang Wagner for their comments on the earlier versions of this paper. Hannah van den Berg helped us with research assistance. We also acknowledge funding by the Charles University Center of Excellence Program, UNCE/HUM/28 (Faculty of Social Sciences/Charles University). The data collection took place in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ethical norms of the VU University Amsterdam. All mistakes remain our own.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) (2022).

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10.1093/fpa/orac022Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Ideology and the Red ButtonFinal published version, 374 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "Does partisan ideology influence whether Europeans are willing to use nuclear weapons, and if so, how? The US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe have been at the core of European security since the Cold War, but we have still yet to learn what would make Europeans be willing to support their use. In this paper, we present the results of a survey, in which we asked citizens in Germany and the Netherlands about their views on the use of the US nuclear weapons stationed on their territory in four distinct scenarios. Our results indicate that voters of right-wing parties are more likely to approve of the use of nuclear weapons in both countries. There are, however, important differences between the two countries in terms of the degree to which the participants oppose the use of nuclear weapons. These results have implications for NATO{\textquoteright}s nuclear deterrence posture.",

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Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons’ Use Preferences in Europe

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