Ritual Deterrence

RITUAL DETERRENCE Ritual Action: Making Deterrence Matter in International Security and Memory Politics The RITUAL DETERRENCE project investigates deterrence through the lens of ritual theory, to understand its political and psychological effects in international relations. It explores the role of ritual action in making deterrence effective, affectively charged and credible in the eyes of its practitioners. The research will be based on a set of in-depth qualitative case studies investigating historical and contemporary contexts: nuclear deterrence in NATO-Warsaw Pact relations during the Cold War, NATO-Russia deterrence dynamics in the post-Cold War era; USA-Russia cyber and hybrid deterrence relations; USA-China deterrence relationship in the post-Cold War era, and memory-political deterrence in Eastern Europe. RITUAL DETERRENCE is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (ERC-2021-COG) awarded to Dr Maria Mälksoo, University of Copenhagen, under the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (project no 101043468) for 2022-2027.