Editing World peace (section)

===Deterrence===
{{See also|Pax Atomica}}
[[Mutual assured destruction]] (MAD) is a [[doctrine]] of military strategy based on rational [[Deterrence theory|deterrence]] in which a full-scale use of [[nuclear weapons]] by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both belligerents.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/cold-war/strategy/strategy-mutual-assured-destruction.htm | publisher = Nuclear files | title = Strategy | contribution = Mutual Assured Destruction}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | first = Col. Alan J | last = Parrington | publisher = Air Force | place = US | url = http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj97/win97/parrin.html | contribution = Mutually Assured Destruction Revisited, Strategic Doctrine in Question | title = Airpower Journal | date = Winter 1997  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150620055606/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj97/win97/parrin.html | archive-date = 20 June 2015 }}.</ref> Proponents of the policy of MAD, which as a term was coined in 1962 during the [[Cold War]], attributed this to the increase in the lethality of war to the point where it no longer offers the possibility of a net gain for either side (a form of [[Nash equilibrium]]), thereby making wars pointless.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}