| This study is concerned with the rise and fall of anti-nuclear activism in Great Britain. Although anti-nuclear activists do not represent the majority of British public views on defense, their very vocal and highly visible activity can have major disruptive effects of U.S. foreign policy and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Moreover, insights into the anti-nuclear movement in Britain offer a standing point for a comparative assessment of analogous campaigns throughout Europe.; In exploring this topic, the dissertation examines three key questions. First, what are the direct causes of cyclical anti-nuclear activism in Britain? Second, are particular types of deployment instrinsically more provocative, and therefore, more politically exploitable than others? Third, what are the particular socio-psychological factors associated with nuclear systems which Labour Party activists are able to manipulate?; In answering these questions, this study concentrates on one central hypothesis: that cycles of British nuclear activism are catalyzed by the deployment of foreign systems which evoke (a) special feelings of subordination in a "hegemonic" Anglo-U.S. relationship, and (b) deep-seated symbolic fears of the apocalypse. |
