ABSTRACT
Analysis of nuclear weapons policy tends to draw on realist theory in which national security and survival are the first and foremost concern of all states in an international system of ‘relentless security competition’.1 States constantly struggle for power because with it comes influence and a greater capacity to ensure national security and state survival in an uncertain and anarchic international environment. The struggle for power and security inevitably results in conflictual relations and power is generally defined in terms of the material, particularly military, capabilities of a state relative to the capabilities of other states and the political power to coerce and control other states.2 It is therefore considered logical and rational for states to maximise their military and political power vis-à-vis their competitors because it is in their national interest to do so if they want to survive. Failure to act ‘rationally’ in an anarchic international system could undermine the very survival of the state.3
