Security Without Nuclear Weapons?: Different Perspectives on Non-Nuclear Security(SIPRI Monographs)

This book examines the question: is the elimination of nuclear weapons feasible? Individual chapters address the major conceptual, technical, and economic issues in the design of a non-nuclear security regime. Other chapters explore more specialized issues as they relate to the feasibility of the elimination of nuclear weapons: élite perceptions and the decision-making process, verification, nuclear proliferation, fissile materials and warheads, alliances and regional hegemonies, and deterrence. The concluding chapter addresses those issues relating to the maintenance of a non-nuclear security regime.

Table of Contents:
Introduction, Regina Cowen Karp; beyond nuclearism, Ken Booth and Nicholas J. Wheeler; towards non-nuclear security - costs, benefits, prerequisites, Erwin Hackel; legal issues concerning the feasibility of nuclear weapon elimination, Julie Dahlitz; thinking about no nuclear weapons - technical and strategic constraints on transitions and end-points, Paul C. White, et al; verification of nuclear weapon elimination, Patricia M. Lewis; nuclear weapon elimination - fissile material and warheads, Frank von Hippel; nuclear proliferation and the elimination of nuclear weapons, Lynn Eden and George Quester; the role of hegemonies and alliances, Harald Muller; minimum deterrence and nuclear abolition, Nicholas J. Wheeler.

Review :
`an excellent production from SIPRI, useful both as a textbook and as a source of ideas, for the case studies are in general dispassionate, comprehensive and well-documented ... The four opening essays on the USA and Soviet Union seem to me of particularly high quality; they have the detachment of true history.' Journal of Strategic Studies 'this collection of essays ... makes a valiant and objective attempt at mapping possible non-nuclear futures' Defence, February 1992 `This book is an important contribution to new thinking about nuclear disarmament ... The different essays cover wide ground ... This book should encourage Realists and Utopians alike to do some new thinking.' Catholic Herald 'a really valuable companion volume ... essential books for anyone with a serious interest in the underlying motives of nuclear possession, and who seeks seriously to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons.' Paul Rogers, Bradford University, Global Security, Spring 1993 'Security Without Nuclear Weapons starts with considerable academic credibility ... The book ... comes in timely fashion.' Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, March 1993 `This book, filled with creativity, imagination, and wisdom, moves well beyond most existing scholarship on national security policy ... this book is a profoundly valuable addition to the national security debate.' American Political Science Review `All the chapters are of high quality and the ideas contained in them are not seriously affected by the fact that they were written before the collapse of the Soviet Union.' Arms Control `The thirteen well-published authors of these eleven chapters have much to teach us ... There is no other single book with this one's focus and depth, combining arms control, stragety, and international politics while exploring the process utopia methodology. It will be useful to both professionals and students, whether realists or disarmers, and may help us all think more clearly about the true shape and content of the "nuclear question."' Perspectives on Political Science