Ankara : The Department of International Relations İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, 2014.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2014.Includes bibliographical references leaves 197-219.This thesis uses role theory to investigate the motivations of national leaders
considering the acquisition of nuclear weapons. The correlation between
expressed roles and proliferation decisionmaking is examined in the cases of
Brazil and India within the framework of a most similar systems design. The
material and ideational sources of Brazilian and Indian national role conceptions
are traced using a model developed by Marijke Breuning (2011). In the Brazilian
case, the expressed national role conceptions are found to be inconsistent with
acquisition of nuclear weaponry, whereas in the Indian case, nuclear explosives
were seen as powerful symbols consistent with the role conceptions of national
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leaders. The insights yielded by role theory in these cases provide a valuable
addition to the existing nonproliferation literature.Reimold, Benjamin AM.S