Atomic Assistance: How "Atoms for Peace" Programs Cause Nuclear Insecurity

by Matthew Fuhrmann

Nuclear technology is dual use in nature, meaning that it can be used to produce nuclear energy or to build nuclear weapons. Despite security concerns about proliferation, the United States and other nuclear nations have regularly shared with other countries nuclear technology, materials, and knowledge for peaceful purposes. In Atomic Assistance, Matthew Fuhrmann argues that governments use peaceful nuclear assistance as a tool of economic statecraft. Nuclear suppliers hope that they can reap the benefits of foreign aid―improving relationships with their allies, limiting the influence of their adversaries, enhancing their energy security by gaining favorable access to oil supplies―without undermining their security. By providing peaceful nuclear assistance, however, countries inadvertently help spread nuclear weapons. Fuhrmann draws on several cases of "Atoms for Peace," including U.S. civilian nuclear assistance to Iran from 1957 to 1979; Soviet aid to Libya from 1975 to 1986; French, Italian, and Brazilian nuclear exports to Iraq from 1975 to 1981; and U.S. nuclear cooperation with India from 2001 to 2008. He also explores decision making in countries such as Japan, North Korea, Pakistan, South Africa, and Syria to determine why states began (or did not begin) nuclear weapons programs and why some programs succeeded while others failed. Fuhrmann concludes that, on average, countries receiving higher levels of peaceful nuclear assistance are more likely to pursue and acquire the bomb―especially if they experience an international crisis after receiving aid.

344 pages, Hardcover

First published July 11, 2012

Reviews

[Viet Phuong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fine reading although sometimes the author seems to be a little bit rush in pushing his ideas on the proliferation risks of nuclear cooperation. The qualitative analysis of cases study is equally impressive if one can discount the obvious (standard/traditional) American point of view when approaching the cases (if you cannot, then the cases will sometimes appear extraordinary in term of legal equal footing and global justice - but world politics is never about equality and justice, we have to understand its paradigm and get the goods out of it).