Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Beyond Emboldenment: How Acquiring Nuclear Weapons Can Change Foreign Policy

| Summer 2015

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.

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For Academic Citation: Bell, Mark S.. “Beyond Emboldenment: How Acquiring Nuclear Weapons Can Change Foreign Policy.” Quarterly Journal: International Security, vol. 40. no. 1. (Summer 2015):
87-119
.

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