IR 002: Lecture 17

Question 1

What are the 3 main types of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)?

Answer 1

-Chemical (ex. mustard gas, sarin gas, etc.)
-Biological
-Nuclear

Question 2

When was the Chemical Weapons Convention and how many members attended?

Answer 2

1993 with 188 members in attendance

Question 3

When was the Biological Weapons Convention and how many states signed the agreement?

Answer 3

1972 with 165 states signing the agreement:
-No biological weapons
-Research is only allowed on small microbes for peaceful purposes

Question 4

What is nuclear latency?

Answer 4

You have the infrastructure/material/capabilities but choose not build nukes (ex. Japan)

Question 5

What is nuclear opacity/ambiguity?

Answer 5

You do not officially recognize that you have nukes (ex. Israel since the late 1960s)

Question 6

What is vertical proliferation?

Answer 6

The growth of existing arsenals

Question 6

What is horizontal proliferation?

Answer 6

The emergence of new arsenals

Question 7

Who are the nuclear weapon states?

Answer 7

-Russia
-The United States
-China
-France
-The United Kingdom
-India
-Israel
-North Korea

Question 8

Why do states want nuclear weapons?

Answer 8

-National security (28 out of 30 recorded cases of nuclear development were at least partly due to security threats)
-Identity (convey a message of self-reliance/autonomy/independence/prestige)

Question 9

What are the two main arguments for the debate on if nuclear weapons made the world more unstable?

Answer 9

Nuclear Optimist:
-Makes leaders more reasonable (don’t want to risk nuclear war)
-Explains why there have been no World Wars since 1945
Nuclear Pessimists:
-A nuclear weapon state will pursue more dangerous policies (ex. Pakistans growing support to anti-Indian terrorists)
-Accidental detonation (Are non-Western states less professional?
-Theft (ex. threats of nuclear terrorism)
-Brinksmanship and nuclear escalation (ex. 1962 Cuban missile crisis or 2023 Ukraine vs. Russia)
-Developing nukes is a tremendous diversion of resources

Question 10

Approximately how much of the global annual expenditure was spent on developing nuclear weapons?

Answer 10

~$105 Billion

Question 11

What were the post-9/11 concerns about nuclear terrorism?

Answer 11

-Easier for terrorist groups to obtain nuclear weapons
-Rouge states can provide nukes to terrorist giving them the means to match their hatred

Question 12

What are the 4 types of nuclear terrorism?

Answer 12

-Steal/Buy nukes
-Steal/Buy fissile materials to build nukes
-Build a “dirty bomb”: radiological dispersal device (easier build but can make a few city block uninhabitable)
-Attacks on Nuclear power reactors (ex. plans of a United States nuclear plant found in Al Qaeda’s Afghan hideouts)

Question 13

What was the Manhattan project during World War II?

Answer 13

-Origins: fears about the Nazi nuclear program
-Involved 500,000 people in total
-Cost: $21 Billion
-Hiroshima: Aug. 6th, 1945 killing between 90,000-160,000
-Nagasaki: Aug. 9th, 1945 (60,000-80,000)

Question 14

What was the nuclear revolution theory?

Answer 14

The conviction that nukes had changed International Relations forever by making wars unthinkable

Question 15

When was the early atomic age?

Answer 15

1945-1949

Question 16

When was the Soviet Union’s first nuclear test?

Answer 16

August 1949

Question 17

When was the nuclear race?

Answer 17

1949-1991

Question 18

What was the goal during the nuclear race of the late 1900s?

Answer 18

-Reduce vulnerabilities against potential attacks
-Develop new delivery vehicles (bombers/long-range missiles/submarines)
-Improve intelligence collection
-Build more nuclear weapons
-Development of nuclear war strategies

Question 19

Approximately how many nukes did the United States have in 1967?

Answer 19

~32,000

Question 20

Approximately how many nukes did the Soviet Union have in the mid 1980s?

Answer 20

~40,000

Question 21

When was the Cuban missile crisis?

Answer 21

1962

Question 22

When was first US-Soviet arms control agreements?

Answer 22

1972

Question 23

What is the United States nuclear modernization program today?

Answer 23

-Announced in 2010 by Obama
-Trump expanded the budget from $1.2 Trillion to $1.7 Trillion
-Biden canceled a few items but endorsed most of it

Question 24

When did the US-Soviet begin pushing for a Non-proliferation Treaty to keep the number nclear weapon states to a minimum?

Answer 24

1968

Question 25

When did the US-Soviet begin to move towards nuclear disarmament?

Answer 25

1980s

Question 26

What is the current United States nuclear arsenal as of 2023?

Answer 26

-5,244 warheads (deployed/in storage/retired)
-Best delivery vehicles (bombers, submarines, land missiles)
-Best intelligence capabilities
-Global network of bases

Question 27

What are the two main ideas surrounding the United States nuclear policy today?

Answer 27

1) The United States must be more assertive and powerful
2) The United States assertiveness and power is destabilizing

Question 28

What is the Chinese nuclear threat?

Answer 28

-China’s growing nuclear assertiveness
-Nuclear buildup (Today: 300-400 nukes, by 2035: likely 1,500 nukes, nuclear missiles can reach the United States, hypersonic vehicle test)
-China’s regime is untrustworthy

Question 29

What are some of the counterarguments to the Chinese nuclear threat?

Answer 29

-The United States has many more nukes and delivery vehicles
-The United States is encircling China (not the other way around)

Question 30

What is the Russian nuclear threat?

Answer 30

-Nuclear modernization (2023: ~6,000 nukes, ~70 billion in spending on nuclear development from 2011-2020
-The Ukraine war could lead to a nuclear exchange