The Second Nuclear Age,

Readers of Colin Gray’s earlier works will not be disappointed by this new book, nor will his critics be surprised by his conclusions. Gray argues that the end of the Cold War does not mean that nuclear weapons can be eliminated or forgotten. This book is indeed valuable for noting, and taking to task, the wide variety of academic trends and fashions that have drawn such opti- mistic conclusions since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union

The Diffusion of Military Technology and Ideas,

This book offers a rich collection of re- search papers on very important top- ics: the much discussed revolution in military affairs (RMA), and the less dis- cussed diffusions of new military tech- nology and the accompanying changes in military doctrine to other countries. The authors were carefully chosen ex- perts in history, political science, and sociology, who address the very impor- tant factors of national culture as they affect the application of new military technologies

Commentary

Skeptics of a total elimination of nuclear weapons often point to a “prisoner’s di- lemma” situation that might emerge, where everyone suspects everyone else of cheating by secretly retaining or manufacturing atomic bombs. Advocates of “global zero” sometimes then respond that this is all too theoretical and hypo- thetical, as we have no way of knowing whether such suspicions would be so all-powerful in a disarmed world. Yet one can point out a real-life example of such a global-zero situation, in the last decades before Hiroshima, where the world’s knowledge of the possibilities of a nuclear chain reaction was emerging and where the result was a “race” to build the bomb, with the United States “winning” this race in the Manhattan Project, Nazi Germany having done very little to produce such weapons

Two Hundred Years of Preemption

Preemption and preventive war have a mixed history in terms of moral acceptance. The strongest condemnation dates from 1918, not 1945. Nonetheless, the world’s experiences before 1914 and since 1938 suggest that it may have to live with, and make the best of, such options

If the Nuclear Taboo Gets Broken

Another use of nuclear weapons, for the first time since Nagasaki, is far from inevitable, but giving advance thought to the ways it could happen and to the policies that would be appropriate in response may be essential to heading it off

Nuclear Pakistan and Nuclear India: Stable Deterrent or Proliferation Challenge?

Nuclear proliferation, a security issue which has transcended the cold war, has been, and is, particularly troublesome in South Asia. There, India and Pakistan, neighbors with unresolved disputes since they were granted independence at the end of World War II, are believed to have nuclear weapons (although the leaders of both nations deny it) and are intermittently engaged in conflict with each other. Professor Quester has examined this unique nuclear relationship, analyzing the attitudes and behavior of both nations. He concludes with a paradox: both have bombs in the basement, if not in their respective military inventories, and these weapons present serious dangers to the world simply because of their destructive potential, even if their leaders have the best intentions. On the other hand, Indian and Pakistani leaders appear to have low levels of concern about each others\u27 nuclear (not conventional military) developments. It is possible to be optimistic and conclude that the relationship is actually stable and, like the U.S.-Soviet nuclear relationship of the cold war, helps prevent war on the subcontinent, or to be cynical and conclude that each regime cares more about the prestige of membership in the nuclear club than the ominous threat posed thereby against their populations.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1904/thumbnail.jp