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cold war nuclear arms race
ESSAY ON NUCLEAR ARMS RACE
the invention of nuclear weapons during the arms race
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THE STANDARD MODEL In the view of offensive realist, John Mearsheimer’s book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, “the sad fact is that international politics have always been a ruthless and dangerous business, and it is likely to remain that way.” With the international system being anarchical, offensive realist, John Mearsheimer states in his book that, “states operating in a self-help world almost always act according to their own self-interests, and do not subordinate their interests to the interests of other states, or to the interests of the so-called international community.” The realists approach to international relations along with the international stage is called the standard security model. The standard security model rationalizes Iranian target to advance its nuclear program since, other states in the Middle East possess nuclear weapons. Using United States (US) intelligence community, it estimates that Pakistan has produced “90-110 warheads” ; none of have been deployed but instead kept in central storage. Similarly, the US intelligence community estimates Indian has around the same number of nuclear warheads, also none have been deployed, but also kept in central storage. Finally, with India and Pakistan both possessing nuclear weapon capability and with the potential of Israel as well, providing the Iranian government with more valid arguments to pursue nuclear weapons in response to increasing their national interest, which in this case is their security. INTERNATIONAL NORMS International norms on nuclear weapons have played a noteworthy role in the United States (US) and international community by attempting to get Iranian leaders to negotiate the release of their nuclear program. The first real establis... ... middle of paper ... .... http://www.jstor.org/stable/2486437 “Status of World Nuclear Forces.” Federation of American Scientists. Last modified 2013. Accessed October 28, 2013. http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/nukes/nuclearweapons/nukestatus.html Sayah, Reza. “Iran nuclear talks: Anger, gloom in Tehran after deal falls through. CNN. Last Modified November 11, 2013. Accessed December 1, 2013. http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/11/world/meast/iran-nuclear-talks-tehran-reaction/ “The United States and the Iranian Nuclear Program: Policy Options.” Watson Institute for international studies, Brown University. Last Modified 2012. Accessed October 30, 2013. http://www.choices.edu/resources/twtn/documents/choices-twtn-iran-options.pdf Zagare, Franck C. “Game Theory.” Security Studies an Introduction 2nd Edition. Edited by Paul D. Williams. (New York, Routledge, 2013). 49-50, 52
In no field other than politics does the justification for action often come from a noteworthy event and the true cause stays hidden behind the headlines. The United States’ transformation from a new state to a global superpower has been a methodical journey molded by international conditions (the global terrain for statecraft), the role of institutions and their programmed actions, and ultimately, the interests of actors (the protection of participants in making policy’s items and i...
China's nuclear weapons program has always been unique among the programs of the five official nuclear weapons states recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. For a variety of economic, political, and cultural reasons, the Chinese program has had a very different trajectory of development, with different objectives, than those of the other major powers' nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Nye, Jr., Joseph S. “Hard and Soft Power in American Foreign Policy.” In Paradox of American Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. 4-17. Print.
Kent, J. and Young, J.W. (2013), International Relations Since 1945: A global History. 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
From the realist point of view, the international political system is considered as anarchic. There is a lack of external authority among states that ensures peace, stability and balance of power. In the analyzed document, the author's main thesis states that changes of the system would alter the international political system. However, changes within the system will maintain its anarchism. In order to support his thesis, the author replies to liberal critics, who consider the neorealism as obsolete taking into account three important arguments against the neorealism.
War.” Unipolar Politics: Realism and State Strategies after the Cold War. Eds. Ethan B. Kapstein and Michael Mastanduno. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 1-27.
Traditionally, State power has been viewed without concern for morality. In most accounts, morality did not play a role in power, or reacted counterproductively towards power. The main school of thought in International Relations on the concept of State power, realism, is founded on self-interest and follows the mantra “might makes right.” The Realists believe that a nation should only act in a manner which enhances or advances its own national interest at all costs despite morality and the interests of other nations. A nation cannot successfully navigate the muddy waters of International Relations by waging war and imposing trade sanctions upon all of those who oppose that nation. The second viewpoint on State power is based purely in morality. Idealism requires self sacrifice for the overall good of the global community. Physical power should perform as ...
In conclusion realist and liberalist theories provide contrasting views on goals and instruments of international affairs. Each theory offers reasons why state and people behave the way they do when confronted with questions such as power, anarchy, state interests and the cause of war. Realists have a pessimistic view about human nature and they see international relations as driven by a states self preservation and suggest that the primary objective of every state is to promote its national interest and that power is gained through war or the threat of military action. Liberalism on the other hand has an optimistic view about human nature and focuses on democracy and individual rights and that economic independence is achieved through cooperation among states and power is gained through lasting alliances and state interdependence.
Since its origin in 1948, North Korea has been isolated and heavily armed, with hostile relations with South Korea and Western countries. It has developed a capability to produce short- and medium-range missiles, chemical weapons, and possibly biological and nuclear weapons. In December 2002, Pyongyang lifted the freeze on its plutonium-based nuclear weapons program and expelled IAEA inspectors who had been monitoring the freeze under the Agreed Framework of October 1994. As the Bush administration was arguing its case at the United Nations for disarming Iraq, the world has been hit with alarming news of a more menacing threat: North Korea has an advanced nuclear weapons program that, U.S. officials believe, has already produced one or two nuclear bombs. As the most recent standoff with North Korea over nuclear missile-testing approaches the decompression point, the United States needs to own up to a central truth: The region of Northeast Asia will never be fully secure until the communist dictatorship of North Korea passes from the scene. After threatening to test a new, long-range missile, Pyongyang says it is willing to negotiate with "the hostile nations" opposing it. But whether the North will actually forgo its test launch is anyone's guess. North Korea first became embroiled with nuclear politics during the Korean War. Although nuclear weapons were never used in Korea, American political leaders and military commanders threatened to use nuclear weapons to end the Korean War on terms favorable to the United States. In 1958, the United States deployed nuclear weapons to South Korea for the first time, and the weapons remained there until President George Bush ordered their withdrawal in 1991. North Korean government stateme...
The creation of the study of international relations in the early 20th century has allowed multiple political theories to be compared, contrasted, debated, and argued against one another for the past century. These theories were created based on certain understandings of human principles or social nature and project these concepts onto the international system. They examine the international political structure and thrive to predict or explain how states will react under certain situations, pressures, and threats. Two of the most popular theories are known as constructivism and realism. When compared, these theories are different in many ways and argue on a range of topics. The topics include the role of the individual and the use of empirical data or science to explain rationally. They also have different ideological approaches to political structure, political groups, and the idea that international relations are in an environment of anarchy.
To conclude, there are four main components of the realist approach to international relations, they are: state which includes egoism as the states are composed by the selfish people, self-help which includes balance of power as power is used to enhance the survival rate, survival which includes hegemony in order to maintain its position and anarchical system which related to lust for power and led to security dilemma.
Whenever world politics is mentioned, the state that appears to be at the apex of affairs is the United States of America, although some will argue that it isn’t. It is paramount we know that the international system is shaped by certain defining events that has lead to some significant changes, particularly those connected with different chapters of violence. Certainly, the world wars of the twentieth century and the more recent war on terror must be included as defining moments. The warning of brute force on a potentially large scale also highlights the vigorousness of the cold war period, which dominated world politics within an interval of four decades. The practice of international relations (IR) was introduced out of a need to discuss the causes of war and the different conditions for calm in the wake of the first world war, and it is relevant we know that this has remained a crucial focus ever since. However, violence is not the only factor capable of causing interruption in the international system. Economic elements also have a remarkable impact. The great depression that happened in the 1920s, and the global financial crises of the contemporary period can be used as examples. Another concurrent problem concerns the environment, with the human climate being one among different number of important concerns for the continuing future of humankind and the planet in general.
The theory of Realism provides reasons why North Korea has positioned the nuclear weapon debate at the centre of its policy. One of the fundamental assumptions of Realism is in fact that each state, embedded in an international order characterized by a condition of antagonism, attempt to pursue its national interest. Besides that, the overriding national interest is defined in terms of national security and survival. Moreover, according to the same theory, relations among states are derived primarly by their level of power, which is constituted basically their military and economic capability, and in pursuit of the national security states strive to attain as many resources as possible. The theoretical model explains thus why the nuclear issue has eventually resulted in identifying with a security one, meaning that North Korea main concern is to assure its survivor, its efforts are in the first place finalized at meeting that target and its only means of pursuing it consists of the posing of the nuclear threat. North Korea finds itself to be stuck in an economic and, to some extent, diplomatic isolation; even though the financial sanctions leading to the just mentioned critical conditions have been caused by the government inflexible, aggressive and anti-democratic behavior, the regime has no ot...
The discipline of international relations (IR) contains several theories that contain theoretical perspectives to the idea of power. Within the realist perspective there are two approaches that help paint the portrait of the realist theory, the classical approach to realism and the neo-realist approach. Classical realism and neorealism both have been subjected to criticism from IR scholars and theorists representing liberal and constructivist perspectives. The key tenets to realism contain three essential characteristics of international relations which are the state, anarchy and the balance of power. This essay will closely analyse all three characteristics with special regards to power being central to the realist perspective.
Weber, Smith, Allan, Collins, Morgan and Entshami.2002. Foreign Policy in a transformed world. United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited.