The Nuclear Freeze and the Politics of Illusion

Abstract

The advent of the Reagan administration brought about a radically new approach to the issue of nuclear arms control. Some have said that this new approach is really going to destroy the process altogether, while others believe it to be a more realistic and thus more promising opportunity for real arms reduction. One of the negative reactions has been the rise of the nuclear freeze movement. The constituent groups of this movement are diverse but share a common trait: they depend on, or deal in, illusion. For that is what arms control was under SALT, and is under the freeze. These groups are a large number of more or less sophisticated but genuinely concerned and fearful citizens; a group of opportunistic politicians; and the arms control community-in-exile. Unless and until these groups recognize the failures of the past and the necessity of abandoning self-delusion, we will inevitably repeat our mistakes, and arms control will again put form before substance.