Nuclear Politics
The Strategic Causes of Proliferation

A comprehensive theory of the causes of nuclear proliferation, alongside an in-depth analysis of sixteen historical cases of nuclear development.

Alexandre Debs (Author), Nuno P. Monteiro (Author)

9781107518575, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 December 2016

648 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 3.5 cm, 0.91 kg

'Why have we seen surprisingly few nations obtain the bomb since Hiroshima? Alexandre Debs and Nuno Monteiro provide the most powerful answer to this question yet. Blending painstaking empirical research with a robust theoretical architecture, they show that the major nuclear powers, above all the US, have long deployed ruthless - and effective - policies of nonproliferation, not out of some selfless idealism but because states with bombs threaten their preponderance. The strategic conditions established by these policies, Debs and Monteiro demonstrate, make it relatively uncommon for a nation to be both willing and able to go for the bomb. This elegantly written book provides both authoritative scholarly analysis and a clear blueprint for future US nonproliferation efforts.' Campbell Craig, Cardiff University, and co-author ?of America's Cold War

When do states acquire nuclear weapons? Overturning a decade of scholarship focusing on other factors, Debs and Monteiro show in Nuclear Politics that proliferation is driven by security concerns. Proliferation occurs only when a state has both the willingness and opportunity to build the bomb. A state has the willingness to nuclearize when it faces a serious security threat without the support of a reliable ally. It has the opportunity when its conventional forces or allied protection are sufficient to deter preventive attacks. This explains why so few countries have developed nuclear weapons. Unthreatened or protected states do not want them; weak and unprotected ones cannot get them. This powerful theory combined with extensive historical research on the nuclear trajectory of sixteen countries will make Nuclear Politics a standard reference in international security studies, informing scholarly and policy debates on nuclear proliferation - and US non-proliferation efforts - for decades to come.

Figures and tables
Abbreviations and acronyms
Preface
1. Introduction
2. A strategic theory of nuclear proliferation
3. The historical patterns of nuclear proliferation
4. Adversaries and proliferation
5. Loose allies and proliferation
6. Close allies and proliferation
7. Conclusion
Appendix 1. Coding rules
Appendix 2. Other cases of nuclear development
Appendix 3. Puzzling cases of no nuclear development
Appendix 4. Formal theory
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Comparative politics [JPB]