...This chapter looks into sprinting, wherein states pursue nuclear weapons openly and deploy the aforementioned weapons as soon as possible. It lists cases from the Soviet Union, France, and China as examples of sprinters. Three countries openly pursued nuclear weapons for security matters, while...

... where there may be no law. With respect to nuclear weapons, the International Court of Justice decided that despite there being no directly applicable laws, use is nonetheless governed by international law. Rules designed for other weapons are relevant, as is a general principle that in the end...

... by providing the intellectual frameworks and mental road maps that shaped senior policymakers' and presidents' thinking about the utility of nuclear weapons during confrontations with other nuclear states. Academic strategists such as Thomas Schelling reputedly exercised such influence that the period between...

... techniques, such as the notorious practice of water-boarding. It also covers President Obama's agreement between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with certain other countries, under which Iran agreed to certain limitations on its development of nuclear weapons in exchange...

...”—that is, with the provision of American nuclear weapons to the NATO allies. This policy of nuclear sharing was one of the key elements in the history of this period. In December 1954 the NATO Council formally adopted a document called MC 48, a report by the Alliance’s Military Committee...

...This chapter explores India's nuclear posture. Like China's, India's nuclear posture is classified as one of assured retaliation. There have been various dramatic moments in India's nuclear weapons history that were often driven by domestic political considerations, most notably its nuclear tests...

...This chapter considers how one might treat Israel's nuclear posture, given that it is a posture comprising capabilities that have never been confirmed. Israel is the world's oldest closet nuclear state. For more than forty years it has neither confirmed nor denied its possession of nuclear weapons...

...Much of the work on nuclear proliferation has focused on why states pursue nuclear weapons. The question of how states pursue nuclear weapons has received little attention. This book is the first to analyze this topic by examining which strategies of nuclear proliferation are available to aspirants...

.... The results show that there are many “paths to status” in world politics; states can manipulate their international standing through both normatively good and bad actions such as greater international engagement and nuclear weapons proliferation. Finally, the chapter draws on cutting-edge “community detection...

... strategies are usually adopted by states with low demand for nuclear weapons. Thus, interest in nuclear weapons is restricted to the fringes of the domestic political arena. Sweden, Switzerland, Brazil, and Argentina use hedging to shift their answers on nuclear weapons, while countries like India shifted...

... and creatively craft their proliferation strategies based on the threats and opportunities they have. The proliferation strategy of sheltered pursuit involves a state's attempts to cultivate or take advantage of a great power's protection to develop nuclear weapons with its tolerance or complicity. The chapter...

... and landscape. However, states will continue to seek nuclear weapons if they continue to be perceived as valuable security and political tools. hedging hiding sheltered pursuit sprinting hedgers technical hedgers domestic political will active weaponizers with hard hedgers insurance hedgers Afghanistan...

...This chapter lays out the volume's main arguments in brief. Contrary to the usual focus on superpowers and Cold War nuclear competition, the chapter proposes a different dynamic. It asks what strategies and choices certain states will make about their nuclear weapons and how those decisions about...

... in the canon of nuclear deterrence, the acquisition of nuclear weapons does not produce a uniform deterrent effect against opponents. Rather, some postures deter conflict more successfully than others. This book considers the range of nuclear choices made by regional powers and the critical challenges...

... postures Hymans Jacques Posture Optimization Theory optimization theory regional power nuclear postures deterrent power proliferation literature nuclear weapons conflict deterrence This book has developed the first rigorous understanding of the sources and deterrence consequences of regional power...