Article
ID: CBB587905950

Life after the Bomb: Nuclear Fear, Science, and Security Politics in Switzerland in the 1980s (2020)

unapi
Civil defense Technology and society Panic; fear Technology and war; technology and the military Cold War Emotions; passions Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons National security 20th century Switzerland

At the beginning of the 1980s, global aftermath studies prompted new perceptions of a nuclear war’s long-term effects on Planet Earth. Focusing on the Swiss ‘Weiterleben’ (‘to live on’) study, which translated these findings into a local context, the paper sheds light on the intertwined history of global politics, science, national security debates, and nuclear fear. It reveals important socio-political and epistemic shifts in the 1980s. Even in countries with comprehensive civil defence systems like Switzerland, the idea that a nuclear war was manageable came to an end; new forms of planning and types of scientific reasoning evolved that superseded ‘Cold War rationality’; and, finally, emotions became a crucial political factor.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB587905950/

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Authors & Contributors
Susan R. Grayzel
Karamouzi, Eirini
Ginevra Sanvitale
Frank L. Smith
Marie Cronqvist
Jayson A. Altieri
Journals
Technikgeschichte: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Technik und Industrie
Air Power History
Traverse
Technology and Culture
Cold War History
Publishers
Springer Nature
Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh
Washington State University Press
University of Minnesota Press
University of California Press
University College Press
Concepts
Cold War
Technology and war; technology and the military
Civil defense
Nuclear weapons; atomic weapons
National security
Technology and society
People
Papandreou, Andreas
Eisenhower, Dwight David
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, late
21st century
Modern
20th century, early
Places
United States
Switzerland
Soviet Union
Great Britain
Washington, D. C. (U.S.)
Greece
Institutions
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Hanford Nuclear Site (Washington)
United States Air Force (USAF)
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