Do Nuclear Weapons Improve International Security?
The post cold war era saw the fear of nuclear conflict dwindle along with the imminent military threat from the USSR. However, with the rise of so called ’rogue states’ like Iran looking to join the nuclear club, alongside the perceived threat of nuclear terrorism. The nuclear proliferation and conflict issue seems of renewed importance. This essay will seek to utilise game theory and a broad rationalist approach within a neo-Realist structural framework to examine whether nuclear weapons add to international security or simply represent a threat to the world. By doing this the essay will hope to formulate a multi-stratal theoretical model based on rational assumptions that might be used to guide policy in the area of nuclear weapons and their proliferation. To explore both the practical and theoretical limitations of our theory, this essay will also draw on ideas from Foucault to bring into focus the limits of rational theories by questioning the key assumptions on which they rest. Gi
