Nuclear Renaissance – The New Atomic Politics

An evening about the emergence of a new era of nuclear proliferation and the state of the nuclear debate. About the recent renewd enthousiasm for nuclear weapens and nuclear power, from Iran to Korea, from the United States and Europe to India and Pakistan. What are the nuclear dangers at the beginning of the 21st century? And what about the state of the political and public debate on the nuclear threat? Is there a renaissance in anti-nuclear forces too? And who controls the nuclear future?

Raymond van den Boogaard leads the conversation about the prospects for nuclear disarmament with Rebecca Johnson, Praful Bidwai, and Sico van der Meer.

Location: Westergasfabriek Openbare Verlichting (Holland Festival Cafe).
Monday 18 June, 20.30 hrs

Rebecca Johnson is founder and director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, London. From 2004 to 2006 she was senior advisor to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), chaired by Dr Hans Blix. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and is a leading expert in the field of nuclear arms and nuclear disarmament. She is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London and the international peace network Women in Black. She is editor of Disarmament Diplomacy, a monthly journal on disarmament and arms control negotiations, and has contributed articles to various publications including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Nature, Le Monde Diplomatique and Arms Control Today.

Praful Bidwai is one of the leading independent experts on nuclear issues in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. He is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi, a fellow of the Transnational Institute, and former senior editor of The Times of India. He is a co-recipient, with Achin Vanaik, of the International Peace Bureau's Sean McBride International Peace Prize for 2000. His latest book, co-authored with Achin Vanaik, is New Nukes: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament.

Sico van der Meer graduated in History at the University of Nijmegen in 1999. Before joining Clingendael in 2006, he worked as a journalist and as fellow of a research institute on civil military relations. At Clingendael, he focuses on security and conflict issues. His expertise is Netherlands defence policy, Asymmetric warfare, Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), Rogue states, International security and conflict.

Raymond van den Boogaard is editor diplomacy with NRC Handelsblad. He is a former correspondent in Moscow and Berlin, during which period he wrote the book Moskou aan Zee (1988). Between 1991 and 1994 he was stationed in the former republic of Yugoslavia. In 2005 he published Zilverstad: De Haagse verduistering van het drama-Srebenica.

This is a part of Holland Festival's Nuclear Reactions programme [PDF]

www.hollandfestival.nl