Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In the immediate aftermath of the second North Korean nuclear crisis, policymakers and pundits raised the specter of a nuclear arms race in East Asia. A nuclear North Korea, from their perspective, would provoke its neighbors to seriously consider nuclear

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: With the rise of the Celtic Tiger, which has seen the Republic of Ireland experience an extraordinary level of economic growth over the past 15 years, the energy policy community has been forced to confront the country's exposure to energy insecurity. The

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In contrast to the recent upheaval concerning US nuclear primacy, the underlying trend in international politics tends towards an accelerated downgrading of the role of nuclear weapons. While nuclear weapons may (or may not) have made a substantial difference in the past, the Cold War conception of deterrence is of limited value in the post-Cold War period. This paper outlines five variables that undermine the so-called �nuclear revolution�. Although most of these variables already existed before, their importance has grown since the mid-1990�s, and there is every reason to assume that their role will be strengthened further in the foreseeable future.
The aim of this paper is to enrich the understaffed academic debate about post-Cold War deterrence. At the same time, the model that is put forward here may be helpful for guiding political decision-makers in the nuclear weapon states. They are under pressure to adapt their nuclear weapons policies to the changed circumstances, as in, for instance, the request by the American Congress for the next administration to come up with a new nuclear posture before the end of 2009. But to what framework should the political decision-makers themselves turn ? And which options are currently available ?
Before describing the causal mechanisms that undermine nuclear deterrence, we will clarify the conceptual confusion about nuclear deterrence policies. More in particular, a distinction will be made between nuclear primacy, maximum deterrence, minimum deterrence, existential deterrence and post-existential deterrence.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The NPT obliges non-nuclear weapons states from acquiring nuclear weapons. Only a “fundamental change in circumstances” overrides this obligation. I argue the NPT's integrity has been undermined, permitting NNWS to acquire nuclear weapons.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Since the 1950s, predictions about the spread of nuclear weapons had resonated across the world. Over the decades, with several countries acquiring and testing nuclear weapons, and others having the technological know how to manufacture these weapons, the