Beyond Emboldenment: How Acquiring Nuclear Weapons Can Change Foreign Policy

Summary

Winner of the Patricia Weitsman Award from the International Studies Association

How does the acquisition of nuclear weapons affect states' foreign policy? A new typology of six potential post-acquisition state behaviors—aggression, expansion, independence, bolstering, steadfastness, and compromise—offers a more nuanced answer to this question than previous studies have provided. The United Kingdom's foreign policy after it developed the bomb reveals how nuclear weapons can make a country more assertive.

Read: Mark Bell's blog post in the Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog.

Listen: Author Chat with Mark Bell.

Listen: Mark Bell's interview with KCBS.