Making Nuclear Choices?

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

States with nuclear weapons, or on the verge of acquiring them, navigate an array of diplomatic and strategic choices. This panel sheds new light on nuclear behavior by examining how states approach these choices, the security imperatives and political pressures that constrain them, and the choices of allies and adversaries that drive them. The four papers offer new empirical evidence and theoretical insights in order to deepen our understanding of how states make nuclear choices. Mark Bell and Julia Macdonald examine the heterogeneity of nuclear crises by illustrating the conditions under which the different models of nuclear crises hold. Debak Das investigates how regional powers exercise diplomatic agency to develop the means of delivering their nuclear weapons in the face of systemic constraints. Jennifer Erickson contests our understanding of the nuclear taboo by reexamining the non-use of nuclear weapons by the United States in the context of social reputation and public opinion. Finally, Matthew Fuhrmann argues that the choice to develop nuclear latency sometimes helps states deter their adversaries from proliferating. By contesting and adding to the existing discourse on nuclear behavior, using diverse theoretical and methodological lenses, this panel demonstrates new ways of looking at nuclear choices made by states.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 19: International Security

Individual Presentations

• Exploring the Heterogeneity of Nuclear Crises - Mark S. Bell, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

• Building Nuclear Force Structures: Alliances, Constraints, and Diplomatic Agency - Debak Das, Stanford University

• Social Reputation, Public Opinion, and US Nuclear Non-Use in the Cold War - Jennifer L. Erickson, Boston College

• Arms-Racing in the Shadow of Nuclear Proliferation - Matthew Fuhrmann, Texas A&M University

Chair

• Etel L. Solingen University of California Irvine

Discussant

• Keir Lieber Georgetown University