SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY-CASE STUDIES IN POLICY PowerPoint Presentation - 2

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY-CASE STUDIES IN POLICY DECISION - PowerPoint Presentation Example Afar from the international politics of power, the general realization is that there was no practical, strategic and military justifications for the development of a weapon with such huge prospects of destruction. The development of a Hydrogen Bomb just for the sake of proving a point was in no way practical considering the resources that were utilized in the development of such a weapon. Furthermore, the possibility of using such an immensly destructive weapon was unethical and inhumane by any standards even during wars. However, Dr. Edward Teller speculated that the fear aroused by the existence of such a weapon would drive humanity to engage in more reasonable politics rather than the politics of destruction (Groot, 2004, p.164). In a letter to the President, Lewis Strauss stressed that the public opinion was already against the development of such a weapon due to the heavy costs (Strauss, 1950). However, Teller also outlines that the success of such a weapon in checking power and possibly preventing a war, would only be successful when another country like the Soviet Union possessed the same weapon. The question is what happenns when the balance of power is broken when some unruly third w orld country or a terrorist organization gains possession of such a technology? Gizewski (1996, p.399) adds that the move of making such a destructive weapon would tarnish the image of any nation in international politics due to the emotions harbored after the Nagasaki and Hiroshima atomic bombings. The military/strateic justifications further make the development of hydrogen bomb unreasonable. According to Groot (2004, p.182), the arms race that was experienced among the developed nations during the cold war could have only been stopped when nations ceased from making destructive weapons and filling up their arsenals. The United States had realized that it could not make