Ritual Deterrence Team Present Work at ISA, San Francisco

Professor Maria Mälksoo, Dr Cameron Hunter and Dr Thomas Fraise travelled to San Francisco during the first week of April 2024 in order to participate in the International Studies Association annual conference. Each team member undertook a mixture of various presentations, workshops and chairing duties, contributing to the scholarly community along multiple avenues.

Professor Mälksoo debated what “progressive grand strategy” might look like with scholars such as Tarak Barkawi, Patrick Porter and Van Jackson (among others). She also presented her findings on “Deterrence on my Doorstep”, showcasing methodological approaches to studying interaction ritual chains on NATO’s eastern flank. These were both very well attended and produced lively discussions, including Professor Peter Katzenstein providing discussant comments for the latter.

Dr Hunter spent the day before the main conference in an invitation-only workshop on the politics of “cislunar” space (i.e. the volume of outer space between Earth, the Moon and its orbital space). Held under the Chatham House Rule, it brought together representatives from academia, government and the military to discuss this emerging economic and security issue. Later, Cameron presented a paper critiquing “managerialist” politics of nuclear weapons.

Dr Fraise provided the conference with a provocative paper on fear, democracy and vulnerability in the nuclear age. This was based on work undertaken as part of his PhD and will likely form part of a monograph project. He also contributed to an excellent panel on “New Historical Approaches to Global Nuclear Weapons Scholarship”, serving as discussant. Here, Thomas brought his expertise as a nuclear historian to bear – a role he will be inhabiting during his postdoctoral work here on the Ritual Deterrence team.