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Book Forum

Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons

(Cornell University Press, 2010)

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Date and Time
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Location
Auditorium/Wintergarden
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Featuring
Featuring the author Matthew Kroenig, Assistant Professor of Government, Georgetown University; Charles Glaser, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies, George Washington University; Micah Zenko, Fellow for Conflict Prevention, Council on Foreign Relations; moderated by Justin Logan, Associate Director of Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute.

For decades, scholars have attempted to identify the factors that drive nuclear proliferation. Nearly all of this research has focused on the demand side of the equation: Why do countries seek nuclear weapons? In Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons, Georgetown professor Matthew Kroenig makes the first comprehensive effort to examine the supply side of the proliferation transaction. The book’s central finding challenges the assumption that states provide “sensitive nuclear assistance” on the basis of economic considerations. Beginning with a simple insight from the literature on nuclear deterrence — that proliferation threatens powerful states more than it threatens weak states — Kroenig argues that such transfers are based on a coherent strategic logic rooted in security considerations. Accordingly, policies intended to prevent proliferation should take into account the strategic circumstances of prospective proliferators. Please join us as we discuss this innovative and important new book.