ABSTRACT
The unprecedented growth in science and technology over the past 70 years has brought many improvements to the quality of our lives, including social freedoms. Unfortunately, these great advancements in technology have also ushered in similar achievements in weapons technologies. Despite these significant advancements and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the world has seen very little actual deployment of these nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons (see Chapter 2). The combined effects of diplomacy, international cooperation, international pressure, and treaties have proved to be effective tools in limiting proliferation. As described in Chapter 7, an important reason why these methods have been so effective is the availability of oil, a widely available, cheap, highly energetic, and portable liquid fuel. Oil has fueled the world’s persistent economic growth since the Great Depression of 1930. As long as there was hope of partaking in the prosperity that oil offered the world, the motivations for proliferation and the use of weapons of mass destruction could be controlled.
