WELCOME TO THE Nuclear taboo database

Welcome to our database of academic literature that examines one of the most intriguing puzzles in our field: Why have nuclear weapons not been used in military conflict since 1945?

You can filter the database by year, type (article, book, chapter, or working paper), category (case study, policy, review article, survey experiment), and sort the results alphabetically or by year. The search window which can be used for looking up authors or specific publications is located below the filters.

The database overview table in .xlsx format is also available here.

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Son, Ham and Yim: How fear of entrapment shapes South Korean public opinion on conflicts with North Korea under US extended deterrence

The Nonproliferation Review | 2023 | article | survey

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Smetana, Vranka and Rosendorf: Elite-public gaps in support for nuclear and chemical strikes: New evidence from a survey of British parliamentarians and citizens

Research & Politics | 2024 | article | survey

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Slovic, Mertz, Markowitz, Quist and Västfjäll: Virtuous Violence from the War Room to Death Row

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2020 | article | survey

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Schwartz and Tierney: Us and Them: Foreign Threat and Domestic Polarization

Journal of Conflict Resolution | 2024 | article | survey

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Schwartz: When Foreign Countries Push the Button

International Security | 2024 | article | survey

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Sagan and Valentino: Atomic Arguments and Counter-Arguments: How Exposure to Conflicting Information Influences American Public Support for the Use of Nuclear Weapons

International Studies Review | 2025 | article | survey

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Reddie and Goldblum: Evidence of the unthinkable: Experimental wargaming at the nuclear threshold

Journal of Peace Research | 2023 | article | survey

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Pomeroy: Hawks Become Us: The Sense of Power and Militant Foreign Policy Attitudes

Security Studies | 2024 | article | survey

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Onderco, Etienne and Smetana: Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons’ Use Preferences in Europe

Foreign Policy Analysis | 2022 | article | survey

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Kreps and Schneider: Escalation firebreaks in the cyber, conventional, and nuclear domains: moving beyond effects-based logics

Journal of Cybersecurity | 2019 | article | survey

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Koch: Punishment and blame: How core beliefs affect support for the use of force in a nuclear crisis

Conflict Management and Peace Science | 2024 | article | survey

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Justwan and Berejikian: Conditional Assistance: Entrapment Concerns and Individual-Level Support for US Alliance Partners Get access Arrow

Journal of Global Security Studies | 2023 | article | survey

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Ju and Byun: Under No Circumstances? What the Chinese Really Think about the Wartime Use of Nuclear Weapons

International Studies Quarterly | 2024 | article | survey

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Goddard and Larkin: Nuclear Shibboleths: The Logics and Future of Nuclear Nonuse

International Organization | 2025 | article | review article

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Cheng, Eguchi, Nakagawa, Shibata and Tago: Another test of nuclear taboo: An experimental study in Japan

International Area Studies Review | 2023 | article | survey

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