Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Re
evision guiide
Ch
hapter 24:: Nuclear proliferati
p
on

The underlyin
ng technology used iin a nuclea
ar energy or
o nuclear w
weapons
pro
ogramme has
h spread
d rapidly si nce 1945. Nuclear weapons
w
th emselves have
sprread much
h more slow
wly.

Nu
uclear weap
pons use either
e
fissio
on or fusion. One of the
t key obbstacles to having a
nucclear arsen
nal is obtaining weap
pons-grade
e fissile ma
aterial (eithher plutoniu
um or
ura
anium).

Nu
uclear weap
pons are weapons
w
off mass des
struction, which
w
prod uce blast, heat, and
rad
diation, and
d which ha
ave explosiive yields equivalent
e
to thousannds or milliions of
ton
ns of TNT.

Nu
uclear deterrence is about
a
using
g nuclear weapons
w
to
o prevent aan adversa
ary from
takking an und
desirable action
a
theyy would oth
herwise tak
ke. Nuclearr deterrenc
ce can be
ach
hieved usin
ng strategiic or tactica
al nuclear warheads,, employedd in a range of
delivery vehiccles, in eith
her a coun
nterforce orr counterva
alue strateegy.

The growth of
o nuclear energy
e
and
d the sprea
ad of dual-use nucleaar technolo
ogy have
raissed concerns that no
on-state acctors could acquire nuclear or ra
radiological material.

Bo
oth nuclear opacity an
nd latent n uclear cap
pacity raise
e questionss about what the
deffinition of nuclear
n
pro
oliferation iis.

Sta
ates acquirre nuclear weapons ffor a numb
ber of differrent reasonns, and the
ey also
cho
oose policiies of nucle
ear restrai nt, nuclearr reversal, and providding nuclea
ar
asssistance to
o other cou
untries. Stra
ategic facttors, culture
e and ideoology, politiical
eco
onomy, do
omestic pollitics, and lleader psychology all play a rolle in these
deccisions.

There is a de
ebate abou
ut whether the spread
d of nuclea
ar weaponss will lead to
t more

Oxford Universityy Press, 2014.

Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Re
evision guiide
sta
ability and less
l
conflic
ct, or more
e accidents
s, instability
y, and confflict.

Ra
ather than existential
e
deterrence
e, where ju
ust one nuc
clear warh ead is suffficient to
detter conflictt, the effectt of nuclea
ar weapons
s on conflic
ct varies ovver time, and from
cou
untry to co
ountry, based on nucllear posturre.

No
on-prolifera
ation efforts
s seek to a
address bo
oth horizontal and verrtical proliferation.
They can foccus either on
o complette disarma
ament, or on limiting nnuclear we
eapons
d their deliivery vehic
cles throug h arms control.
and

Th
he NPT is seen
s
as a bargain be
etween nuc
clear weap
pons statess and non--nuclear
we
eapons stattes. Howev
ver, critics complain that it is no
ot universaal, it is diffic
cult to
damentally
mo
onitor and enforce,
e
an
nd it is fund
y unfair.

Sin
nce the end
d of the co
old war, the
e internatio
onal community has aalso used counterc
pro
oliferation approache
a
es to disrup
pt nuclear smuggling
s
and the puursuit of nu
uclear
we
eapons. Th
hese have included U
UNSC Reso
olution 154
40, PSI, annd the Nuc
clear
Se
ecurity Sum
mmit.

In tthe past fe
ew years, there has b
been more discussion
n of a returrn to disarm
mament
and
d the even
ntual elimin
nation of al l nuclear weapons.
w

Oxford Universityy Press, 2014.