Nuclear victimhood and its implications on the emergence of nuclear order from 1945 to 1970

• In Event: International History and Politics in East Asia

Abstract

Critical approaches to nuclear order examine ideational, material, institutional, and postcolonial elements of power embedded in the nuclear order, by which they substantially uncover hierarchical relationships rooted in nuclear order. However, the perspective of other political belongings and actors who are (almost) destroyed has not been substantially explored in these approaches. My project intervenes at this point and asks the following question: How did victimhood relating to nuclear technology in Asia-Pacific inform the emergence of nuclear order from 1945 to 1970? With two incidents (Hiroshima/Nagasaki in 1945 and Bikini Atolls in 1954) relating to Japan, the Marshall Islands, and South Korea, I argue nuclear victimhood differently informed the creation of nuclearism, which is a key to the nuclear order. Focusing on the ‘nuclear’, the first element of nuclear victimhood is material and discursive elements of nuclear technology, which include radiation as well as peace, modernity, and saviour. Meanwhile, focusing on ‘victimhood,’ the second element is moral authority deriving from this relationship. Combined together, nuclear victimhood creates discursive categorisations of nuclear technology, leading to a hierarchy of nuclearism. This project will contribute to critical nuclear studies, by illuminating the role of victimhood in the genesis of the nuclear order.

Author

• Woohyeok Seo, LSE