Mutually Assured Destruction

Discipline: Political Science

Theory of security through nuclear weaponry.

Since each state has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other even if attacked first, any state beginning a nuclear war will cause the destruction of both itself and its opponent. This will deter it from so doing.

Also see: balance of terror, deterrence

Source:
Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Dictionary of World Politics (Hemel Hempstead, 1990)

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