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

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

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

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

Journal of Conflict Resolution | 2024 | article | survey

Schwartz: When Foreign Countries Push the Button

International Security | 2024 | article | survey

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

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

Journal of Peace Research | 2023 | article | survey

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

Security Studies | 2024 | article | survey

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

Foreign Policy Analysis | 2022 | article | survey

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

Journal of Cybersecurity | 2019 | article | survey

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

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

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

International Studies Quarterly | 2024 | article | survey

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

International Organization | 2025 | article | review article

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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