Explainer: The Northwest Passage’s Shipping Potential, Legal Status, and What’s at Stake

80th Anniversary of the Trinity Test

On July 16 1945, in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert at 5:30 a.m., the U.S. Army conducted the first ever detonation of a nuclear weapon as part of the Manhattan Project.

Now, 80 years later, nuclear tensions are resurfacing and the threat of proliferation grows. Nuclear Scientists and Experts at the Belfer Center come together to reflect on the Trinity Test as a critical moment at the dawn of the nuclear age and its enduring legacy, and question where we stand today.

War and International Politics

With the end of unipolarity, security competition among the great powers—China, Russia, and the United States—is back with a vengeance.

In the latest issue of International Security, John J. Mearsheimer argues that war is the dominant feature of life in the international system, mainly because of the nature of politics, and that politics is a fundamentally conflictual enterprise with the ever-present possibility of violence.

Belfer Center Director Meghan O'Sullivan discusses strategic priorities for the coming decades