International Relations Commons^™

The Messy Nuclear Landscape: Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping To Explore Plausible Nuclear Disarmament Scenarios, Ryan M. Nixon

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Nuclear weapons are seemingly permanent fixtures in international relations. Although nuclear abolitionists and actors within the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have taken significant steps towards designing a world without nuclear weapons, the longstanding realist logic that suggests nuclear disarmament is nonviable has born more fruit. On the other hand, some proponents of realism have suggested global nuclear disarmament is feasible, given that certain international instabilities are stabilized and that special care is taken during diplomatic negotiations. This presents an opportunity to test these predictions using fuzzy cognitive mapping, a computational modeling technique that identifies …

Towards A Universal Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, T. P. Radhakrishnan

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The 1968 Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) came into force in 1970 and expires in 1995. In 1995 an extension conference has to be convened to decide whether the treaty continues in force indefinitely or will be extended for an additional period or periods.

The treaty, cosponsored by the us, the USSR, and the UK, has 155 signatories, but a few countries like Israel, India and Pakistan have refused to be bound by it. They have done so mainly on the formal grounds that the treaty is structurally discriminatory between nuclear and nonnuclear weapons states.

What are …