1. Assessing the Impact of the Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Tests on the Middle East
- Author:
- Gerald M. Steinberg
- Publication Date:
- 07-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
- Abstract:
- Since the beginning of the atomic age in 1945, the possession and deployment of nuclear weapons has become the dominant factor in the international system. Those countries that acquired nuclear weapons have become (or maintained their status as) primary world powers, but as the number of such countries grew, the potential for the use of nuclear weapons also increased. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy warned that unless immediate and significant action was taken, within a decade there would be as many as 20 nuclear powers. The process of proliferation was seen as one of the most dangerous and destabilizing aspects of the nuclear era.
- Topic:
- Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Nuclear Weapons
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, South Asia, Middle East, and India