Without the Bomb: The Politics of Nuclear Nonproliferation

Conventional wisdom has long assumed that nuclear proliferation is inevitable. But as the author points out, the avowed nuclear powers have remained restricted to what he calls ""the original five'': the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Britain and China. In this well-researched study, Reiss isolates the sources of restraint in six countries capable of building and stockpiling a nuclear arsenal: Sweden, South Korea, Japan, Israel, South Africa and India. These restraints include domestic pressures, bilateral incentives and the consensus against nuclear weapons. The author provides a historical overview of nonproliferation, the role the United States has played in the six case-history countries and clarifies a little-understood phenomenon he describes as ``threatening to go nuclear, without actually doing so.'' Reiss has served both on the National Security Council and in the International Institute for Strategic Studies. (January)