A perpetual menace : nuclear weapons and international order

By - Walker, William, 1946-

Floor - Floor 1

Published - London ; New York : Routledge, 2012.

ISBN 10 - 0415421063

ISBN 13 - 9780415421065

Book Status - 1 Qnty Available with us.

Subject - Nuclear arms control. , Nuclear weapons--Government policy. , Security, International. , World politics--21st century.

Shelf No - 15

Call Number - 327.1747 WAL

Physical Description - xv, 239 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Notes - Includes bibliographical references and index.

Book Information

Written by a leading scholar of international nuclear relations, this book examines `the problem of order' arising from the existence of nuclear weapons. This problem originated in the nineteenth century, when industrialization and the emergence of new sciences and technologies ushered in the era of total war. It became acute in the twentieth century's second half, with the invention of nuclear weapons and the pre-eminent role ascribed to them during the Cold War. It became more complex after the Cold War's end, as power structures shifted, new insecurities emerged, prior ordering strategies were called into question, mistakes were made, and governments became fearful of catastrophic, including nuclear, terrorism. William Walker explores how this grave problem is conceived by influential players, how they have sought solutions in face of many predicaments, and why those solutions have been deemed effective and ineffective, legitimate and illegitimate, in various times and contexts. This book will be of great interest to students of international relations, nuclear proliferation, arms control and disarmament, and security studies.

Open Book