ABSTRACT
The Gadhafi regime's pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability was driven primarily by a security imperative and its desire to deter external interference and intervention in Libya by states in its immediate neighbourhood and further afield. To help to secure and maintain domestic support, the Gadhafi regime exploited the country's oil wealth to develop a welfare state in which food, housing and clothing were guaranteed to all. The regime sought to pursue domestic and foreign policies that were free from external influences and constraints. Libya's nuclear ambitions are only being understood against the backdrop of Gadhafi's radical and unpredictable approach to external relations during the 1970s and 1980s. Security was the regime's principal nuclear driver, although Gadhafi evidently used the nuclear issue to promote his influence and position in Arab politics by seeking to promote himself as a defender of the Arabs in the face of Israeli military dominance.
