Description
Book SynopsisThe book reflects the author''s experience across more than forty years in assessing and forming policy about nuclear weapons, mostly at senior levels close to the centre both of British governmental decision-making and of NATO''s development of plans and deployments, with much interaction also with comparable levels of United States activity in the Pentagon and the State department. Part I of the book seeks to distill, from this exceptional background of practical experience, basic conceptual ways of understanding the revolution brought about by nuclear weapons. It also surveys NATO''s progressive development of thinking about nuclear deterrence, and then discusses the deep moral dilemmas posed - for all possible standpoints - by the existence of such weapons. Part II considers the risks and costs of nuclear-weapon possession, including proliferation dangers, and looks at both successful and unsuccessful ideas about how to manage them. Part III illustrates specific issues by reviewing
Trade ReviewQuinlans reflections on nuclear weapons are thought-provoking and informative...Eloquent and thought-provoking, this is a book that should be enjoyed by a wide audience...This is an excellent book that students of history and international security would do well to consider. * David James Gill, International Affairs *
The best possible introduction to modern nuclear-policy thinking. * Survival *
Table of ContentsForeword ; Preface ; Introduction ; PART I - THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS ; 1. The Nuclear Revolution ; 2. The Tools of Thinking ; 3. Deterrence ; 4. Nuclear Deterrence in NATO ; 5. The Ethics of Nuclear Weapons ; PART II - MANAGING NUCLEAR WEAPONS ; 6. Risks ; 7. Proliferation ; 8. Arms Racing, Costs, and Arms Control ; 9. Easements and Escape Routes ; NATIONAL NUCLEAR-WEAPON POSTURES AND POLICIES: BRITAIN, INDIA, PAKISTAN ; 10. United Kingdom Doctrine and Policy ; 11. Nuclear Weapons in South Asia ; PART IV - THE PATH AHEAD ; 12. The Abolition of Nuclear Armouries? ; 13. The Practical Agenda ; Appendix 1: Nuclear weapons and preventing war ; Appendix 2: The strategic use of nuclear weapons ; Index
