ABSTRACT
This chapter makes the case for understanding the current era in global nuclear politics as a Third Nuclear Age, and explains the major shifts and changes that differentiate the nuclear world today from that of the Cold War and post-Cold War world. It explains the key dynamics sharping this new period of our shared nuclear history and outlines how the book both complements and challenges the current literature. It goes on to unpack how the three-part framework consisting of technology, geopolitics and norms was used to examine each country case study, and explains why these cases were chosen. Lastly, it outlines the major argument of the book that pathways to nuclear security in the Third Nuclear Age can be characterised across four distinct but often antagonistic approaches: Nuclear Traditionalists, Technological Transformers, Hedgers and Balancers, and Activists and Protesters.
