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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Weapons & equipment > Nuclear weapons
For every major military invention in human history, there has
quite always been a countervailing technology. Nuclear weapons
have, however, remained an exception. Ballistic missile defence
(BMD) has, in recent years, emerged as a formidable means to defend
against nuclear-armed delivery systems though yet to prove their
total reliability. What does the advent of BMD mean for the nuclear
revolution - will it make nuclear weapons obsolete or in turn lead
to a new arms race among great powers? This book is a concise
volume that examines these strategic dimensions of missile
defences, mainly its impact on deterrence. It promises thematic
variety by incorporating a technological survey that explains the
evolution of BMD concepts and also includes a case study of
Southern Asia that throws light on BMD dynamics in a volatile
region. The volume balances new conceptual inquests with policy
analysis that will make it useful literature on BMD for academics
and policymakers.
Victor D. Cha and David C. Kang's Nuclear North Korea was first
published in 2003 amid the outbreak of a lasting crisis over the
North Korean nuclear program. It promptly became a landmark of an
ongoing debate in academic and policy circles about whether to
engage or contain North Korea. Fifteen years later, as North Korea
tests intercontinental ballistic missiles and the U.S. president
angrily refers to Kim Jong-un as "Rocket Man," Nuclear North Korea
remains an essential guide to the difficult choices we face. Coming
from different perspectives-Kang believes the threat posed by
Pyongyang has been inflated and endorses a more open approach,
while Cha is more skeptical and advocates harsher measures, though
both believe that some form of engagement is necessary-the authors
together present authoritative analysis of one of the world's
thorniest challenges. They refute a number of misconceptions and
challenge the faulty thinking that surrounds the discussion of
North Korea, particularly the idea that North Korea is an
irrational actor. Cha and Kang look at the implications of a
nuclear North Korea, assess recent and current approaches to
sanctions and engagement, and provide a functional framework for
constructive policy. With a new chapter on the way forward for the
international community in light of continued nuclear tensions,
this book is of lasting relevance to understanding the state of
affairs on the Korean peninsula.
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) has been the principal
legal barrier to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons for the past
forty-five years. It promotes the peaceful uses of nuclear
technology and insures, through the application of safeguards
inspections conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), that those technologies are not being diverted toward the
production of nuclear weapons. It is also the only multinational
treaty that obligates the five nuclear weapons states that are
party to the treaty (China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the
United States) to pursue nuclear disarmament measures.Though there
have been many challenges over the years, most would agree that the
treaty has largely been successful. However, many are concerned
about the continued viability of the NPT. The perceived slow pace
of nuclear disarmament, the interest by some countries to consider
a weapons program while party to the treaty, and the funding and
staffing issues at the IAEA, are all putting considerable strain on
the treaty. This manuscript explores those issues and offers some
possible solutions to ensure that the NPT will survive effectively
for many years to come.
"In order to curb nuclear-weapons proliferation, it is of
fundamental importance to identify the underlying rationale for
certain states to seek a nuclear-weapons option, as well as to
understand why the vast majority of states, possessing the
necessary technology, do not develop nuclear weapons. The
international community still has much to learn in this regard and
"Nuclear Logics" is a valuable and timely contribution to this
discussion."--Dr. Hans Blix, chairman of the Weapons of Mass
Destruction Commission
"Professor Solingen has illuminated an important and often
neglected aspect of nuclear motivations, namely the domestic
conditions that underlie a country's decision to acquire nuclear
weapons. Her well-researched and powerful argument asserts that
nuclear-weapons programs are more likely to emerge from states that
are hostile to economic openness and, conversely, that they are
less likely where states are more willing to integrate with the
global political economy."--Mitchell B. Reiss, College of William
and Mary
"Solingen not only provides a cogent account of the divergent
nuclear trajectories of East Asia and the Middle East, but develops
a powerful general explanation resting on whether the state's
ruling coalition is inward looking or is geared to integrating with
the rest of the world. Both in its challenge to standard views and
in its strong positive arguments, this is a study of great
value."--Robert Jervis, Columbia University
"Etel Solingen's "Nuclear Logics" provides the depth and insight
needed to understand today's urgent dilemmas of nuclear
proliferation. She convincingly shows that opening up shuttered
states to expanded international economic ties canundermine the
political constituencies that favor nuclear weapons
programs."--Jack Snyder, Columbia University
""Nuclear Logics" is a first-class piece of work. It deals with
a prominent issue, and its central approach--doing a focused,
detailed comparison of two regions that started out much the same
but have differed in their subsequent histories on
proliferation--generates a wealth of interesting and instructive
insights."--John Mueller, Ohio State University
"What is most impressive and significant about Solingen's
scholarship is its breadth. Her prose is clear and often elegant. I
believe her book, which truly is pioneering in both the
international-relations and nonproliferation fields, is accessible
to both scholars and university students. I am sure it will become
required reading in many graduate courses."--William C. Potter,
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Turkey, with a robust modern economy and growing energy needs, is
pursuing a switch to nuclear power. But that shift is occurring in
an environment fraught with security challenges: Turkey borders
Iraq, Syria, and Iran-all states with nuclear or WMD ambitions or
capabilities. As a NATO member, Turkey also hosts U.S. nuclear
bombs on its territory, although some question the durability of
this relationship. This dynamic has naturally led to speculation
that Turkish leaders might someday consider moving beyond a
civilian course to develop nuclear weapons. Yet there has been
remarkably little informed analysis and debate on Turkey's nuclear
future, either within the country or in broader international
society. This volume explores the current status and trajectory of
Turkey's nuclear program, adding historical perspective, analytical
rigor, and strategic insight.
In the spring of 1945 the Allies arrested the physicists they
believed had worked on the German nuclear programme during the war.
Interned in an English country house, their conversations were
secretly recorded. MI6's Operation Epsilon sought to determine how
close Nazi Germany had come to building an atomic bomb. It was in
this remote setting - Farm Hall, near Cambridge - that the German
physicists first heard of the bombing ofHiroshima. August 6 1945
was a night that changed the course of history. The terrible weapon
unleashed on Japan caused unprecedented destruction and loss of
life. That the Allies had such a weapon at their disposal came as a
great shock to the German scientists who had worked under the
assumption that the Allies knew nothing of nuclear fission. This is
the story of the wartime race to develop an atomic bomb, and the
genius, guilt, complicity and hubris of Nobel Prize-winning
scientists working to create a weapon that would undoubtedly have
won the war for the Germans.
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