The Anthropocene should be studied as the radioactive afterlife of the Cold War

In this newly published chapter, titled ’The Nuclear Origins of the Anthropocene’, Senior Researcher Rens van Munster outlines the intimate connections between the militarization of the planet during the Cold War and the advent of the Anthropocene.

Focusing on nuclear weapons, he suggests that the emergence of the Anthropocene as a new geological era in the history of our planet is profoundly connected to the modern way of making war.

The chapter appears in the book International Relations in the Anthropocene, edited by David Chanedler, Franziska Muller and Delf Rothe. The volume seeks to introduce undergraduate and graduate students to central political and methodological questions related to the Anthropocene, including global security, climate change, planetary stewardship and postcolonial relations.