Martin Senn
University of Innsbruck

Introduction

Why do states seek or forego nuclear weapons? Why are there only nine nuclear weapons states rather than many more as scholars and statesmen expected at various points in the past? Why did four countries renounce their nuclear arsenals and many others abandon the development of nuclear weapons? And why have nuclear weapons apparently been unattractive for the large majority of states? The engagement of scholars with these puzzles of nuclear proliferation has produced a substantial body of studies that focus on the external environment of states, their domestic characteristics, or the characteristics of individual decision-makers. In their book Nuclear Politics: The Strategic Causes of Proliferation Alexandre Debs and Nuno P. Monteiro introduce a new and sophisticated theoretical framework in the tradition of Realist theories of international relations and accordingly locate the relevant factors for the (non-)acquisition of nuclear weapons in the security environment of states.