ABSTRACT

Asia has the world’s highest concentration of nuclear weapons and the most significant recent developments related to nuclear proliferation, as well as the world’s most critical conflicts and considerable political instability. The containment and prevention of nuclear proliferation, especially in Asia, continues to be a grave concern for the international community. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the state of nuclear arsenals, nuclear ambitions and nuclear threats across different parts of Asia. It covers the Middle East (including Israel), China, India-Pakistan and their confrontation, as well as North Korea. It discusses the conventional warfare risks, risks from non-state armed groups, and examines the attempts to limit and control nuclear weapons, both international initiatives and American diplomacy and interventions. The book concludes by assessing the possibility of nuclear revival, the potential outcomes of international approaches to nuclear disarmament, and the efficacy of coercive diplomacy in containing nuclear proliferation.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

chapter 3|25 pages

Nuclear security

Transcending the policy objectives of the nuclear non-proliferation regime

chapter 4|18 pages

Human security approach in nuclear disarmament

Towards a nuclear-free world?

chapter 5|18 pages

Non-proliferation through forceful persuasion?

American coercive diplomacy on the ‘axis of evil’

chapter 7|29 pages

China’s nuclear modernisation

The evolution of Chinese nuclear doctrine, strategic ambiguities and implications for US–China relations

chapter 8|27 pages

‘Eating grass’

Pakistani nuclear capabilities, a brief historical background and the danger of proliferation

chapter 10|6 pages

Concluding remarks