China – Page 235 – Rising Powers Initiative

Sagan, Scott D., and Kenneth N. Waltz

Summary

In The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed, professors Waltz and Sagan resume their well-known dialogue concerning nuclear proliferation and the threat of nuclear war. Kenneth Waltz, Dean of Realist Theory in international relations at Columbia University, expands on his argument that “more may be better,” contending that new nuclear states will use their acquired nuclear capabilities to deter threats and preserve peace. Scott Sagan, the leading proponent of organizational theories in international politics, continues to make the counterpoint that “more will be worse”: novice nuclear states lack adequate organizational controls over their new weapons, resulting in a higher risk of either deliberate of accidental nuclear war. Treating issues from the ’long peace’ between the United States and Soviet Union made possible by the nuclear balance of the Cold War to more modern topics such as global terrorism, missile defense, and the Indian-Pakistani conflict, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed is an invaluable addition to any international relations course.

Sagan, Scott D., and Kenneth N. Waltz

Summary
A long-time staple of International Relations courses, this new edition continues the important discussion of nuclear proliferation, while looking at the regions and issues now at the forefront of the nuclear question. Over the past fifteen years, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons has been a staple in International Relations courses because of its brevity and crystal-clear explanations. The new edition, An Enduring Debate, continues the important discussion of nuclear proliferation and the dangers of a nuclear-armed world. With new chapters on the questions surrounding a nuclear North Korea, Iran, and Iraq and the potential for a world free of nuclear weapons, this Third Edition will continue to generate a lively classroom experience.

Sagan, Scott D

Abstract
Scott D. Sagan notes that the question of why states seek to build nuclear weapons has scarcely been examined, although it is crucial to efforts at preventing proliferation. He challenges the traditional realist assumption, accepted uncritically by many scholars and policymakers, that states seek to acquire or develop nuclear weapons primarily for military and strategic reasons. Sagan examines alternate explanations for the demand for nuclear weapons.
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Rhodes, Richard

Summary
The final volume in Richard Rhodes’s prizewinning history of nuclear weapons offers the first comprehensive narrative of the challenges faced in the post-Cold War age. The past twenty years have transformed our relationship with nuclear weapons drastically. With extraordinary depth of knowledge and understanding, Richard Rhodes makes clear how the five original nuclear powers–Russia, Great Britain, France, China, and especially the United States–have struggled with new realities. He reveals the real reasons George W. Bush chose to fight a second war in Iraq, assesses the emerging threat of nuclear terrorism, and offers advice on how our complicated relationships with North Korea and South Asia should evolve. Finally, he imagines what a post-nuclear world might look like, as only he can.

Fischer, David

Summary
Although nearly fifty countries have a nuclear capacity, and many more are working towards this goal, only a few are actually in possession of nuclear weapons. Stopping the Spread of Nuclear Weapons addresses the problem of how to prevent the wide acquisition of such weapons, and is particularly relevant in light of the collapse of the post-war power structure and the intensive militarization of the Middle East.

In this study, David Fischer surveys the success of the international regime set up to stop the spread of nuclear weapons since the mid-1960s. He gives particular emphasis to the fact that 138 nations have renounced the bomb since 1968 and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the non-proliferation treaty. Fischer sets forth the reasons that the membership should extend to France and China, and discusses the 1995 conference that will decide the future of this treaty.

Stopping the Spread of Nuclear Weapons provides evidence of the relationship between the development of nuclear power and the acquisition of nuclear weapons and of the dangers involved in the growing use of plutonium and the building of nuclear submarines. David Fischer provides a detailed and comprehensive view of the ongoing conflict between nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation, and examines both the short- and long-term prospects for non-proliferation.

Cirincione, Joseph, Jon B. Wolfsthal, and Miriam Rajkumar

Summary
Deadly Arsenals provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive assessment available on global proliferation dangers, with a critical assessment of international enforcement efforts. An invaluable resource for academics, policymakers, students, and the media, this atlas includes strategic and historical analysis; maps, charts, and graphs of the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missile delivery systems; descriptions of the weapons and regimes—and policies to control them; and data on countries that have, want, or have given up weapons of mass destruction. The new edition addresses the recent, dramatic developments in Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and the nuclear black market, analyzing strategic and policy implications. A Choice outstanding academic title from one of the premier nonproliferation research teams.

Cirincione, Joseph

Summary
Since their inception, nuclear weapons have multiplied at an alarming rate, leaving everyone from policymakers to concerned citizens wondering what it will take to slow, stop, or even reverse their spread. With clarity and expertise, Joseph Cirincione presents an even-handed look at the history of nuclear proliferation and an optimistic vision of its future, providing a comprehensive survey of the wide range of critical perspectives.
Cirincione begins with the first atomic discoveries of the 1930s and covers the history of their growth all the way to current crisis with Iran. He unravels the science, strategy, and politics that have fueled the development of nuclear stockpiles and increased the chance of a nuclear terrorist attack. He also explains why many nations choose not to pursue nuclear weapons and pulls from this the outlines of a solution to the world’s proliferation problem: a balance of force and diplomacy, enforcement and engagement that yields a steady decrease in these deadly arsenals.
Though nuclear weapons have not been used in war since August 1945, there is no guarantee this good fortune will continue. A unique blend of history, theory, and security analysis, Bomb Scare is an engaging text that not only supplies the general reader and student with a clear understanding of this issue but also provides a set of tools policymakers and scholars can use to prevent the cataclysmic consequences of another nuclear attack.

Xu, Yi-chong

Summary
Explores the history and challenges of nuclear energy development in China, across five main areas: politics, economics, environment, technology transfer and the nuclear fuel cycle. It emphasizes the political challenges in developing a set of long-term national strategies to ensure speedy, safe and secure nuclear energy development.

Ogilvie-White, Tanya, and David Santoro, eds.

Summary
From the publisher: In recent decades the debate on nuclear weapons has focused overwhelmingly on proliferation and nonproliferation dynamics. In a series of Wall Street Journal articles, however, George Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam Nunn called on governments to rid the world of nuclear weapons, helping to put disarmament back into international security discussions. More recently, U.S. president Barack Obama, prominent U.S. congressional members of both political parties, and a number of influential foreign leaders have espoused the idea of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Turning this vision into reality requires an understanding of the forces driving disarmament forward and those holding it back. Slaying the Nuclear Dragon provides in-depth, objective analysis of current nuclear disarmament dynamics. Examining the political, state-level factors that drive and stall progress, contributors highlight the challenges and opportunities faced by proponents of disarmament. These essays show that although conditions are favorable for significant reductions, numerous hurdles still exist. Contributors look at three categories of states: those that generate momentum for disarmament; those with policies that are problematic for disarmament; and those that actively hinder progress—whether openly, secretly, deliberately, or inadvertently.

Medeiros, Evan

Summary
Reluctant Restraint examines one of the most important changes in Chinese foreign policy since the country opened to the world: China’s gradual move to support the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, missiles, and their related goods and technologies. Once a critic of the global nonproliferation regime, China is now a supporter of it, although with some reservations. Medeiros analyzes how and why Chinese nonproliferation policies have evolved so substantially since the early 1980s. He argues that U.S. diplomacy has played a significant and enduring role in shaping China’s gradual recognition of the dangers of proliferation, and in its subsequent altered behavior.

Lewis, John, and Litai Xue

Summary
Based on newly released material (“How much the Chinese elected to publish truly surprised us,” the authors remark in the preface), this important work of scholarship reveals how the decision was made in China in 1955 to build an atomic bomb, how the project was organized, its leadership and management methods, how uranium was found, mined and processed, how the bomb itself was designed, built and successfully tested at Lop Nur on October 16, 1964. Though the Soviets played a critical role in the initial stages of the effort, the Chinese accomplished the greater part of the task without foreign assistance. It was a remarkable feat, carried out in a poor nation just recovering from three wars during a time of enormous political turmoil. Lewis is chairman of the International Strategic Institute at Stanford; Xue Litai is a researcher at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford.

Richard C. Bush III and Jonathan D. Pollack

Abstract
This article published by The Brookings Institution examines how Pyongyang’s 2013 nuclear test affects North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile capability, policymakers in Japan and the United States, and new leadership in South Korea and China.

Basrur, Rajesh M. and Cohen, Stephen Philip

Abstract
This book considers the nuclear futures of India and Pakistan, respectively. Noting the multiplicity of actors affecting India’s future nuclear posture, Basrur and Cohen propose three basic scenarios and then consider how variations in ten of the most important factors – including India’s relations with Pakistan and China, the role of the United States, and the number and types of nuclear weapons – could shape which of the three ideal-type scenarios India will most closely approximate.
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Saalman, Lora, ed

From the publisher: Global power is shifting to Asia. The U.S. military is leading an American “pivot” to the Indo-Pacific region. Asian “theaters” attract the bulk of global arms spending. China, India, and Pakistan are building up their nuclear arsenals—as the United States, France, and the United Kingdom are building down. China is by far the world s largest “market” for new nuclear energy production, and India aspires to be on a similar trajectory. Yet, despite these trends, The China-India Nuclear Crossroads is the first serious book by leading Chinese and Indian experts to examine the political, military, and technical factors that affect their nuclear relations. Editor Lora Saalman produces a comprehensive framework for China and India to pursue to enhance cooperation and minimize the unintended consequences of their security dilemmas.

Callahan, William A

Summary
The rise of China presents a long-term challenge to the world not only economically, but politically and culturally. Callahan meets this challenge in China: The Pessoptimist Nation by using new Chinese sources and innovative analysis to see how Chinese people understand their new place in the world.

To chart the trajectory of its rise, the book shifts from examining China’s national interests to exploring its national aesthetic. Rather than answering the standard social science question “what is China?” with statistics of economic and military power, this book asks “when, where, and who is China?” to explore the soft power dynamics of China’s identity politics.

China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through careful analysis, Callahan charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China’s domestic and international politics. China thus is the pessoptimist nation where national security is closely linked to nationalist insecurities.

Callahan concludes that this interactive view of China’s pessoptimist identity means that we need to rethink the role of the state and public opinion in Beijing’s foreign policy-making.