ABSTRACT
The issues of nuclear proliferation are to be viewed with three interrelated caveats: first, the drive towards nuclear nonproliferation will most likely remain work in progress, especially if a state has perceived security threats. Since theoretical debates form an important part of the answers to the proliferation puzzle, this chapter begins by presenting a generic and concise theoretical view of motivations for nuclear proliferation. To simplify, there are mainly four competing justifications that answer why states opt for nuclear weapons capability. According to Bradley Thayer these are: prestige; bureaucratic politics; technological pull; security motivations. States that acquire nuclear weapons technology for prestige, view nuclear weapons as tools for projecting ‘grandeur and stature in international politics’. The security lens provides the most powerful explanation for why states go nuclear by proving security to be both a necessary and sufficient condition for nuclear weapons proliferation.
