Sagan is known for his research on the organizations managing nuclear weapons and published on the subject in The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons. Bruce G. Blair writes, "Scott Sagan's book is nothing less than a tour de force.... It is by far the most carefully researched and painstaking study of nuclear weapons safety ever written." He also is one of the leading pessimist scholars about nuclear proliferation, and his co-authored book with Kenneth Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed, is widely read and cited in the literature on nuclear weapons. Sagan writes in the book, "the United States and the Soviet Union survived the cold war and did not use their massive nuclear-weapons arsenals during the period's repeated crises. This should be a cause of celebration and wonder; it should not be an excuse for inaction with either arms control or non-proliferation policies." His most recent publications include Insider Threats, co-edited with Matthew Bunn ; Learning from a Disaster: Improving Nuclear Safety and Security after Fukushima, co-edited with Edward D. Blandford ; and guest editor of a two-volume special issue of Daedalus, New Dilemmas in Ethics, Technology, and War. Sagan is also the author of Moving Targets: Nuclear Strategy and National Security ; and The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons. He is the co-editor of Planning the Unthinkable with Peter R. Lavoy and James L. Wirtz; the editor of Inside Nuclear South Asia ; co-editor of a two-volume special issue of Daedalus, On the Global Nuclear Future, with Steven E. Miller. Other publications include "The Case for No First Use" in Survival ; "A Call for Global Nuclear Disarmament" in Nature ; "Atomic Aversion: Experimental Evidence on Taboos, Traditions, and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons" with Daryl G. Press and Benjamin A. Valentino in The American Political Science Review ; and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences occasional paper, "A Worst Practices Guide to Insider Threats: Learning from Past Mistakes,", with Matthew Bunn.
Awards
In 2017, Scott Sagan received the International Studies Association's Susan Strange Award. The award recognizes a person whose "singular intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and intellectual and organizational complacency" in the international studies community. Sagan was the recipient of the NationalAcademy of Sciences William and Katherine Estes Award in 2015, for his pioneering work addressing the risks of nuclear weapons and the causes of nuclear proliferation. The award, which is granted triennially, recognizes "research in any field of cognitive or behavioral science that advances understanding of issues relating to the risk of nuclear war." In 2013, Sagan received the International Studies Association's International Security Studies Section Distinguished Scholar Award. Sagan has also won four teaching awards: the Monterey Institute for International Studies' 2009 Outstanding Contribution to Nonproliferation Education Award; the International Studies Association's 2008 Deborah Misty Gerner Innovative Teaching Award; Stanford University's 1998-99 Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching; and Stanford University's 1996 Laurance and Naomi Hoagland Prize for Undergraduate Teaching. He teaches a popular course with Allen Weiner called "The Face of Battle," in which students walk key battlefields from American history, performing individual historical roles in staff rides and meeting with national security professionals.
