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Delivering the Bomb: The Spread of Nuclear Delivery Systems and the Global Non-proliferation Order | Debak Das

Summary
Prof Debak Das (Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver)
Perry Conference Room
Apr
29
This event ended 300 days ago.
Date(s)
Content

How and why do nuclear delivery vehicles proliferate? This talk identifies a permissive environment for the proliferation of nuclear delivery systems in the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. There are three drivers of this dynamic: First, the multipurpose/dual-use nature of the technology to deliver nuclear weapons; second, the definitional obscurity in the non-proliferation regime about what constitutes a 'nuclear weapon'; and third, the exclusion of legally-enforceable legislation on delivery systems in the nuclear non-proliferation regime. I identify the different pathways of proliferation that both supplier and recipient states use to take advantage of these enabling factors to acquire/disseminate nuclear delivery vehicles. Using qualitative historical evidence from archives across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and India, l use an international history approach to trace the trajectory of the nuclear non-proliferation regime's regulation of nuclear delivery vehicles.