Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Nuclear Umbrella, Nuclear Proliferation

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: Nigmendra Narain

Document Summary

This lecture begins by noting that the nuclear weapons era is a post-wwii phenomenon. 1945-64, we saw a large increase in the number of weapons, a modest increase in the number of countries possessing them, and early signs of interest in interstate cooperation on this matter. The non-proliferation treaty was signed in 1968 by the massive majority of states, put to work in 1970, and renewed in 1995. The international atomic energy agency, which provides crucial inspections capacity to the treaty, was created in 1957. The treaty aims to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of non-nuclear weapons states (nnws), by agreement and inspections. The nuclear weapons states (nws) compensate the nnws by providing support for civilian nuclear use and promising to move to full nuclear disarmament. But the nws agree not to help nnws acquire nuclear weapons. Well, many countries began and then abandoned their nuclear weapons development programs.