The Trump Nuclear Posture Review; Towards a Changed Nuclear Strategy for the U.S?

There is a current debate about the impact and content of the Trump Nuclear Posture Review, which presents the indented nuclear strategy of the United States. This document is controversial because it opens for nuclear testing and development of new nuclear capabilities. This thesis unpacks this document to examine if the Trump nuclear posture review suggests a changed approach to U.S. strategy. By comparing the review to the previous nuclear posture review of Obama in 2010, the thesis argues there are more differences than similarities between the two documents. These proposed changes are not directly transferable to actual policies due to the declaratory nature of these documents. Consequently, the Trump nuclear posture review does suggest a change in the approach to nuclear strategy, but these changes can only be interoperated as signals send to the world and not as actual policies. The objective of the thesis is to shed new light on the potential changes, especially concerning the approach to deterrence and main differences in nuclear strategy compared to previous strategies