Book talk - Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative

Join us for a presentation and discussion of Aaron Bateman's (George Washington University) recently published book which draws from recently declassified American, European, and Soviet documents to give an insightful account of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), situating it within a new phase in the militarization of space after the superpower détente fell apart in the 1970s. Bateman reveals the largely secret role of military space technologies in late–Cold War US defense strategy and foreign relations. In contrast to existing narratives, Weapons in Space shows how tension over the role of military space technologies in American statecraft was a central source of SDI's controversy, even more so than questions of technical feasibility. Even though SDI did not come to fruition, it obstructed diplomatic efforts to create new arms control limits in space. Weapons in Space carries the legacy of SDI into the post–Cold War era and shows how this controversial program continues to shape the global discourse about instability in space—and the growing anxieties about a twenty-first-century space arms race. Dr Bleddyn Bowen (Durham University) will act as discussant and lead a Q&A.

Registration will close two hours before the event starts