Project Ploughshares is a Canadian peace research institute with a focus on disarmament efforts and international security, specifically in the areas of the arms trade, emerging military and security technologies, nuclear weapons, and outer space security.
Analysis & Commentary
We Remember: 75 Years Since the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Please join us for a virtual event on this solemn anniversary as we honour the victims and consider new ways to help rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Burn-In: What our future with tech could look like
July 14, 2020Why a blog about a recently released novel? Because, as many readers know, fiction is often a compelling way to capture our concerns about the future—and the present. In techno-thriller Burn-In, A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution, authors P.W. Singer and August Cole examine the many roles that technology can assume in 21st–century national and global security and in ...
The U.S. defence strategy in outer space: A plan in which no one wins
June 25, 2020On June 18, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) released a public summary of its updated Defense Space Strategy. Making public the military’s approach to space is a critical transparency and confidence-building measure (TCBM), enhancing the security of the space environment for all actors. As many states fail to provide such information, the United States should be applauded for this ...
The ubiquity of military-grade drone tech
June 10, 2020News channels and social media posts on recent protests across the United States have been filled with images and information about the militarized responses by law enforcement agencies. Images of police officers with military-grade weapons and tactics usually seen only in war zones have been striking to observers in and outside of the US. Still, the flying of the Predator ...
Recent Publications
Did Russia test a weapon in space?
July 30, 2020On July 23, 2020, the United States Space Command Public Affairs Office released information claiming that on July 15, Russia “injected a new object [Object 45915] into orbit from Cosmos 2543” and “released this object in proximity to another Russian satellite.”
Report: From safety to security – extending outer space norms
July 30, 2020As part of a wider research project that is mapping the normative landscape in outer space with the aim of informing the further development of norms related to space-based military capabilities and activities, we invited global space experts to participate in a survey that was open from May 15 to June 10.
Space Security Cooperation: Changing Dynamics
June 22, 2020The security of outer space is a cooperative endeavor to achieve a shared benefit. Yet, while cooperation is essential for space security, it is often fraught. This chapter examines the logic for cooperation as an approach to space security, including supportive governance mechanisms, and traces the impetus and evolution of such efforts over time, marked by struggle to overcome strategic competition.
Support Project Ploughshares
Every dollar makes a difference