Persuading People to Act against the Nuclear Threat: Some Findings and Recommendations
by John Whitehead
A perennial question for activists is “How do you get people to join you?” Persuading people to accept your views on an issue and then to act on these views is a major challenge.
Addressing this challenge, specifically regarding activism against the threat of nuclear weapons, is the subject of the recent report Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons. A joint project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Ploughshares, the report seeks to identify a more effective way of communicating to the American public about the nuclear threat.
Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons is designed to “support the work of anyone pursuing changes in policy to reduce nuclear threats and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons globally.” The report’s findings and proposed communications strategy, or “narrative,” are intended to “create an opportunity to explore new ways of engaging the public on nuclear weapons and open windows for meaningful policy change” (p. 8).
A crucial feature of the new anti-nuclear narrative is an emphasis on the goal of reducing the threat from nuclear weapons. This goal, rather than the more ambitious goal of eliminating these weapons altogether, is likely to be more appealing to people who are not yet committed anti-nuclear activists.
The narrative’s central idea is “Every step we take to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons brings us closer to creating the safe and sustainable future we all deserve.” As the report explains, “In the face of deep skepticism about the possibility of totally eliminating nuclear weapons…this narrative was accepted by audiences as believable, worthwhile, and achievable” (p. 7).
The recommendations in Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons are worth serious consideration by anti-nuclear peace activists. Some of these recommendations may also be applicable to other forms of activism within the Consistent Life Ethic movement.
Useful Approaches to Addressing the Nuclear Threat
Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons draws on various forms of research. NTI and Ploughshares retained the services of Metropolitan Group (MetGroup), an organization that develops social justice-oriented strategies, including communications strategies.
MetGroup reviewed research on communications strategy conducted by the nuclear risk reduction and disarmament community, as well as how nuclear issues have been covered by the media in recent years. The group also conducted surveys of the public and extensive consultations with activists and experts from a variety of organizations. MetGroup then developed a narrative on anti-nuclear activism that was refined through a series of focus groups.
The narrative crafted through this process is meant to motivate those most open to anti-nuclear activism while also reaching out to those who may be more ambivalent but are open to persuasion. The narrative and the rationale and research that went into it are complex, and reading the full report is worthwhile.
I will highlight just a few points from the report about communicating the anti-nuclear message that struck me as particularly significant:
- Begin with a comprehensible, even modest, goal.
As the report notes, “There is overwhelming skepticism about the total elimination of nuclear weapons” (p. 30). Talking to people about nuclear abolition tends to elicit wariness. Talking to people about reducing the nuclear threat elicits a more positive reaction. Focus group participants agreed with the statement “Even if we never get all the way to that goal [abolition], every step in that direction will only make us safer” (p. 30).
Although the report doesn’t delve into which steps to advocate, the Back from the Brink Campaign, which I have described before, certainly offers specific goals, short of abolition, that can reduce the nuclear threat. These could be starting points for outreach.
- Emphasize ordinary citizens’ ability to make a difference.
A telling comment in the report is that “People do not think they have a role to play in nuclear risk reduction and disarmament and are consistently left out of the success stories we tell” (p. 27).
A review of media coverage of nuclear issues found that such coverage neglects ordinary citizens’ efforts and instead focuses on policymakers and experts. In news stories from 2020-2023 on nuclear weapons, most people quoted were government officials, with only 2% of the people quoted being ordinary citizens.
Identifying actions anyone can take to reduce the nuclear threat, such as participating in demonstrations or contacting elected officials, can make people more engaged and willing to act. For example, people can contact their representatives in Congress to support the recently introduced H.Res 317, which calls for several useful measures to reduce the dangers of nuclear war.
The next point nicely combines the two above:
- Talk about past successes.
Showing how activists have reduced the nuclear threat in the past demonstrates that success is possible and can also provide an opportunity to show how ordinary citizens have had an impact.
The dramatic reduction in the number of nuclear weapons in the world—from over 70,000 weapons in the mid-1980s to roughly 12,000 in 2025—is an extraordinary accomplishment. Multiple focus group members identified this accomplishment as giving them hope that further nuclear reduction was possible.
Among anti-nuclear slogans shared with survey respondents, the slogan that received the most positive response was “We’ve Come So Far, We Can Finish the Job” (p. 37).
- Be prepared to address the notion that nuclear weapons keep us safe.
Research by the Chicago Public Affairs Council in 2023 found that a significant majority of Americans thought having nuclear weapons made the country safer. This notion is presumably rooted in the idea that American nuclear weapons deter other nuclear-armed countries from attacking the United States.
To counter this notion, activists can highlight previous times the world has come close to nuclear war, including because of false alarms; the danger of an erratic or incompetent president making decisions about nuclear weapons; and the danger of accidents involving nuclear weapons. Emphasizing the immense costs of current US plans to invest trillions in nuclear weapons may also be helpful.
As the report explains, the goal is to shift the discussion away from an “us vs. them” understanding of nuclear weapons that pits the United States against nuclear-armed nations such as Russia or North Korea and replace it with an understanding that “all of us” are threatened by nuclear weapons.
Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons also has a valuable observation about the language we use to discuss the nuclear threat. Talking about “The dangerous idea that threatening mass destruction somehow makes the world safer” is more effective than talking about “The dangerous misconception that nuclear weapons keep us safe.” As the report notes,
The “dangerous idea” language frames the issue in terms of logic and common sense (i.e., how can threatening mass destruction be safe?). The “dangerous misconception that nuclear weapons keep us safe” implies a degree of naivete, or worse unwitting complicity, on the part of the public, closing the door to further discussion (p. 27).
- Highlight opposition to nuclear weapons within the national security establishment.
The report notes that “survey research indicates that most people say they are likely to trust nuclear weapons experts, U.S. military leaders, and cybersecurity experts more than academic experts, religious leaders, or even current or former top government officials” (p. 27). The example of someone like General George Lee Butler, a Vietnam veteran and former head of the Strategic Air Command who has since become a fierce critic of nuclear weapons, may be persuasive.
Conclusion
Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons offers findings and recommendations that may help anti-nuclear activists craft more persuasive messages. Some of these findings and recommendations may be applicable to other issues covered by the Consistent Life Ethic. In particular, the three principles of identifying comprehensible goals, emphasizing the power of ordinary citizens, and talking about past successes are broadly relevant. Let’s take these insights to heart to make our activism for peace and life more effective.
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Some more of our posts on the practicalities in opposing nuclear weapons:
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