Responding to developments within the field of British nuclear culture, this thesis uses the concept of the sociotechnical imaginary (STIM) to trace the social and cultural history of the Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria between 1945 and 1990. Drawing upon oral histories of…
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In the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, arms control gained traction as the preferred option for dealing with Soviet nuclear advances. The development of the first imaging satellites is often credited with enabling nuclear arms control under the conventional wisd…
Structural realists argue the nation-state is a unitary actor that conducts foreign policy without regard to domestic politics. Anarchy, the lack of any controlling authority, is the dominant fact of life for states within the international system. Operating within this self-hel…
The world is shifting from a unipolar system following the end of the Cold War to a multipolar system that is ushered in by “the rise of the rest.” This change in the global structure has led some analysts to predict an increase in nuclear weapons proliferation caused by increas…
Nuclear weapons, long considered the béte noire of human existence are examined quantitatively and qualitatively in this dissertation to ascertain if the heinous effects they threaten ultimately serve to promote deterrence between pairs of states. The findings suggest that nucle…
This thesis is an attempt to understand the role of nuclear weapons in Britain's defence and foreign policies. It works from the assumption that decisions in relation to nuclear weapons, can only be understood in the context of a broader overview of the British state's policies …
Hugh Gaitskell was leader of the Labour Party between 1955-63. The Cold War was at a critical level and bi-partisanship in international affairs was expected. With Gaitskell's accession this appeared to end, marked in particular by the disputes over Suez, the independent nuclear…
John F. Kennedy died on 22 November 1963, the victim of an assassin's bullet. He had been president just over three years and at the time of his premature death was gearing up for his reelection campaign. A short-lived détente between the United States and the Soviet Union emerg…
This thesis discusses the interacting relationship between China's nuclear arms control and nonproliferation policy and U.S.-China relations from 1979 to 2007. By exploring the interactions of the two countries in the context of the international nonproliferation regime, and usi…
Rational deterrence theory posits that deterrence is more likely to be successful when a state credibly communicates to its adversary that it has both the capability and intent to retaliate against threats. Yet, second-generation nuclear states, which often exist in severe secur…
Empowered by the forces of economic globalization, international illicit flows of people, goods and technology have surged in recent years, especially since the end of the Cold War. The dominant view of this phenomenon is that it is driven by nonstate actors at the expense of st…
This thesis studies under what conditions the U.S. can coerce its allies to forgo nuclear weapons. Specifically, why did Taiwan and South Korea give up their nuclear pursuits under American duress, while Israel and Pakistan attained a nuclear capability? The existing theoretical…
President Jimmy Carter took office with the intention to halt nuclear proliferation, to implement reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal and to maintain détente with the Kremlin. Yet the president ended his tenure with more weapons programs in the works, a more explicit posture …
While launching pre-emptive military strikes and extending U.S. security guarantees are often analyzed as ways to prevent nuclear proliferation, little attention has been paid to using conventional arms transfers to curb nuclear proliferation. Leaders of countries with nuclear a…
This dissertation explains when countries with nuclear weapons ambitions comply with or defy foreign demands that they abandon their bomb aims and accept restrictions on their nuclear progress. It argues that the likelihood of compliance with nonproliferation demands depends on …
This thesis argues that deterrence based on conventional weapons is prone to failure. The unique characteristics associated with nuclear weapons, however, tend to provide for a robust deterrent. This argument is supported by four case studies (Berlin 1958, 1961; Taiwan Straits, …
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The purpose of this dissertation is to critically examine the new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system, and to evaluate the possibility of a non-nuclear-weapons state who is party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Additional Protocol developing a cla…
Nuclear weapons have the potential to dramatically change international relations, allowing nuclear powers to deter aggression by threatening to respond to attacks with massive destructive power. For nuclear threats to be credible, however, states must do two things: First, they…