​
​Book

Stephen Herzog, Giles David Arceneaux, and Ariel F. W. Petrovics, eds., Atomic Backfires: When Nuclear Policies Fail (Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press, 2025).

The existential risks posed to the world by nuclear weapons are growing. Efforts to halt nuclear proliferation, manage crises, promote arms control, and build alliances are all considered fundamental to reducing the likelihood of nuclear catastrophe. Yet, no tool is guaranteed to succeed and some may even have unanticipated, counterproductive consequences for international security.

In this volume, an impressive group of contributors calls for close scrutiny of standard operating procedures in nuclear politics. They warn decision-makers, scholars, and students not to lose sight of the drivers and often calamitous effects of failed nuclear policies.

​Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

Giles David Arceneaux, "From the Inside Looking Out: Fears of Regime Change and North Korean Nuclear Operations" (Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press, 2025).

Giles David Arceneaux, "Whether to Worry: Nuclear Weapons in the Russia-Ukraine War," Contemporary Security Policy, Vol. 44, No. 4 (October 2023), pp. 561-575.

Giles David Arceneaux and Peter D. Feaver, "The Fulcrum of Fragility: Command and Control in Regional Nuclear Powers," in Vipin Narang and Scott D. Sagan, eds., The Fragile Balance of Terror: Deterrence in the New Nuclear Age (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2022), pp. 182-208.

Commentary and Policy Analysis

Giles David Arceneaux, "Russian Nuclear Thresholds after the Kursk Offensive," Future Conflict, September 6, 2024.

Giles David Arceneaux, "Threading the Nuclear Needle: Expanded Targeting and Escalation Risks in the War in Ukraine," Future Conflict, June 25, 2024.

Giles David Arceneaux, "Why the West Should Take Russia's Nuclear Threats More Seriously," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 12, 2024.

Giles David Arceneaux, "Some Countries Plan to Decentralize Control of Nuclear Weapons in a Crisis. Here's Why That's Dangerous," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 14, 2023.

Giles David Arceneaux, Nuclear Command and Control and Strategic Stability (The Hague: Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, 2023).

Giles David Arceneaux and Rachel Tecott, "Nuclear Risks: Russia's Ukraine War Could End in Disaster," National Interest, July 31, 2022.

Giles David Arceneaux, "COVID-19 and British Nuclear Deterrence," War on the Rocks, April 24, 2020.