The Past, Present, and Future of the Nuclear Disarmament Movement
The Kroc Institute Director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies Jerry Powers sits down to talk with Dr. James Muller, co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and George Lopez about the history, present, and future of the movement toward nuclear disarmament.
Experience the Episode
Presented by Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
The Kroc Institute Director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies Gerard Powers sits down to talk with Dr. James Muller, co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Professor Emeritus George Lopez about the history, present, and future of the movement toward nuclear disarmament.
This episode was originally published by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies on September 3, 2019. To explore the entire library of Kroc Cast podcast episodes and for more information , please visit kroc.nd.edu.
MoreMeet the Faculty: Gerard Powers
Gerard Powers is director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies. He is also coordinator of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, which links 21 bishops’ conferences, Catholic development agencies, universities, and independent peace organizations in an effort to enhance the study and practice of conflict prevention, conflict management, and post-conflict reconciliation in war-torn areas. From 1998-2004, he was director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and from 1987-1998 was a foreign policy advisor in the same office.
Powers specializes in the ethics of the use of force; religion, conflict and peacebuilding; and ethics and U.S. foreign policy. He is co-editor (with C. Montevecchio) of Catholic Peacebuilding and Mining: Integral Peace, Development, and Ecology (Routledge, 2022) (available as an open-access e-book); co-editor (with R. Schreiter and S. Appleby) of Peacebuilding: Catholic Theology, Ethics and Praxis (Orbis, 2010); co-editor (with D. Philpott) of Strategies of Peace: Transforming Conflict in a Violent World (Oxford 2010); and co-editor (with D. Christiansen and R. Hennemeyer) of Peacemaking: Moral and Policy Challenges for a New World (1994).
Meet the Speaker: Dr. James Muller
Dr. James Muller is the Co-founder and CEO of Emergency Call for Heart Attack and Stroke, LLC. He practiced cardiology for over 40 years, now retired from clinical work, but continues research. He is a former Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. With colleagues, introduced the concept of vulnerable coronary plaque in 1989. He is the Co-founder and former CEO of InfraReDx, Inc. and SpectraWAVE, Inc. With successful detection of vulnerable plaques, was named Distinguished Scientist – Basic – for 2023 by the American College of Cardiology. He also is the co-founder of International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War which was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
Meet the Faculty: George A. Lopez
George A. Lopez is the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, where he was a founding faculty member. He is a leading expert on economic sanctions, peacebuilding, and various peace-related issues. As a logical extension of his teaching and research with the Kroc Institute, Lopez has engaged in a diverse set of policy and public roles. He served as interim executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1997 and chaired its Board of Directors (1998-2003), presiding over changing the hands of the Doomsday Clock in 2002. As a senior research associate at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs in New York City from 2001-2002, he assisted with the Council’s post-9/11 public programming throughout the U.S. From 2013-15, he was the Vice President of the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, D.C.
Since 1992, Lopez has advised the United Nations, various international agencies, and governments on economic sanctions issues, ranging from the design of targeted financial sanctions to redressing their negative humanitarian impacts. He has written more than 40 articles and book chapters and authored or edited six books (often with Kroc Institute faculty member David Cortright) on sanctions. Lopez and Cortright’s research detailing the unlikely presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was published before the 2003 Iraq War as “Disarming Iraq” in Arms Control Today and after the war as “Containing Iraq: the Sanctions Worked” in Foreign Affairs. In 2010-11 and again in 2022-23 Lopez served on the UN Panel of Experts (1874) for monitoring sanctions on North Korea. In 2022 he co-founded https://ahsrproject.org to address the negative impact of economic sanctions on innocent populations.