Since the dawn of the nuclear era, nuclear deterrence has been contested and criticized, both as a legitimate policy on the basis of its immorality, and as a practical policy on the basis of its inefficiency and dangerosity.

These questionings opened the path to a great diversity of movements that have been involved in nuclear disarmament, either directly – peace and antinuclear movements, national and international peace organisations, including professional (notably scientific and religious) organisations – or indirectly – direct action groups (more common in anti-nuclear energy groups), environmental, feminist, anticolonial or human/civil rights groups, and political parties.

Despite their differences, these entities have all contributed to the edification and circulation of a broad corpus of criticism against nuclear weapons.

Recent studies and movements have re-energized the pro-nuclear disarmament agenda in the West and the strong criticism against nuclear deterrence, especially on ethical, moral and philosophical grounds (see, for example, changes in religious thoughts, notably the Catholic Church in Rome).

New studies have also opened up new avenues to better understand the transnational circulation of ideas and concepts related to disarmament, the role of inter/trans/national nuclear imaginaries, the connection between national and transnational histories, and the interactions between grassroots activism and “transnational professional activism” in the creation of nationally based movements, in order to shed light on the complex dynamics that interact to favour the development of disarmament movements.

Therefore, the researchers gathered for this conference will investigate the following themes:

- the philosophical, religious and ethical foundations of disarmament movements, their evolutions and interactions with the political sphere, with a focus on the Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church (panel 1);

- the circulations, transfers and re-appropriations of ideas, practices and peoples among disarmament movements and more broadly among transnational activist movements (involved in other issues such as environment, technology, fight against corruption, etc), their interactions with states apparatus, political parties and civil societies, and their roles in the emergence and reconfiguration of inter/trans/national networks and communities. These topics would be approached through a variety of contemporary case studies, including: South-African and 'Oceanian' movements, as well as global advocacy perspectives (panel 2); Western European movements and their Western connections, both in the post-World War Two and in the 'Second Cold War' eras.