Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic

Nuclear weapons are unrivalled as tools of destruction, are extremely difficult to defend against, and are proverbial double edged swords, being capable of both enforcing stability in international relations through deterrence and inflicting unfathomable casualties. Bearing this in mind, the current...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nah, Liang Tuang
Other Authors: Rajesh Manohar Basrur
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65421
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author Nah, Liang Tuang
author2 Rajesh Manohar Basrur
author_facet Rajesh Manohar Basrur
Nah, Liang Tuang
author_sort Nah, Liang Tuang
collection NTU
description Nuclear weapons are unrivalled as tools of destruction, are extremely difficult to defend against, and are proverbial double edged swords, being capable of both enforcing stability in international relations through deterrence and inflicting unfathomable casualties. Bearing this in mind, the current non-proliferation regime depends on consensual compliance with nuclear weapons free norms. Consequently, this dissertation seeks to analyse the cases of South Africa, Ukraine and North Korea using a tripartite framework drawn from national security based realist, economic interdependence based liberalist and moral norms based constructivist factors so as to understand the motivations for nuclear arms development in South Africa and North Korea, and the arguments for nuclear arms retention after Ukrainian independence. Thereafter, this tripartite theory approach will be used to examine subsequent motivations for nuclear disarmament and relinquishment in South Africa and Ukraine while attempting to account for unprecedented nuclear weapons policy transparency and tentative disarmament seen in North Korea from 2007 – 2008. Additionally, the nuclear weapons relinquishment of Belarus and Kazakhstan will be examined and dismissed as subsidiary cases. By analysing these five case studies using this eclectic theoretical framework, common security, economic and norms based motivational drivers can be detected across nuclear proliferants and former proliferants who choose to practice nuclear arms abstinence. By identifying similar decisional drivers for nuclear weapons aspirants/retainers and states completely or partially relinquishing nuclear arms, the determination of potential nuclear armaments proliferators can be evaluated, while nuclear arms possessors like North Korea or suspected nuclear aspirants like Iran could be encouraged to disarm or limit their nuclear activities, thereby strengthening nuclear disarmament policies.
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spelling ntu-10356/654212020-11-01T08:20:13Z Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic Nah, Liang Tuang Rajesh Manohar Basrur Tan See Seng S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Alan Chong Chia Siong DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science::International relations Nuclear weapons are unrivalled as tools of destruction, are extremely difficult to defend against, and are proverbial double edged swords, being capable of both enforcing stability in international relations through deterrence and inflicting unfathomable casualties. Bearing this in mind, the current non-proliferation regime depends on consensual compliance with nuclear weapons free norms. Consequently, this dissertation seeks to analyse the cases of South Africa, Ukraine and North Korea using a tripartite framework drawn from national security based realist, economic interdependence based liberalist and moral norms based constructivist factors so as to understand the motivations for nuclear arms development in South Africa and North Korea, and the arguments for nuclear arms retention after Ukrainian independence. Thereafter, this tripartite theory approach will be used to examine subsequent motivations for nuclear disarmament and relinquishment in South Africa and Ukraine while attempting to account for unprecedented nuclear weapons policy transparency and tentative disarmament seen in North Korea from 2007 – 2008. Additionally, the nuclear weapons relinquishment of Belarus and Kazakhstan will be examined and dismissed as subsidiary cases. By analysing these five case studies using this eclectic theoretical framework, common security, economic and norms based motivational drivers can be detected across nuclear proliferants and former proliferants who choose to practice nuclear arms abstinence. By identifying similar decisional drivers for nuclear weapons aspirants/retainers and states completely or partially relinquishing nuclear arms, the determination of potential nuclear armaments proliferators can be evaluated, while nuclear arms possessors like North Korea or suspected nuclear aspirants like Iran could be encouraged to disarm or limit their nuclear activities, thereby strengthening nuclear disarmament policies. Doctor of Philosophy 2015-09-22T02:39:33Z 2015-09-22T02:39:33Z 2015 2015 Thesis Nah, L. T. (2015). Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65421 10.32657/10356/65421 en 334 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science::International relations
Nah, Liang Tuang
Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic
title Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic
title_full Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic
title_fullStr Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic
title_full_unstemmed Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic
title_short Nuclear disarmament through a realist-liberal-constructivist Mosaic
title_sort nuclear disarmament through a realist liberal constructivist mosaic
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science::International relations
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65421
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