Nuclear Arsenals Today

The main argument of this comprehensive volume of nuclear weapon activity in Asia is that it is only here that there is the fear of renewed and widespread nuclear proliferation. The era of bipolar competition is looked back upon with nostalgia as an era when the two superpowers fully realized the dangers of nuclear weapons and strove to keep them safe, and secure enough to preclude their actual use. The shift in the relevance of nuclear weapons from the West to Asia, it is feared, will constitute a ‘second nuclear age’ where the rules might not be as clearly understood as it was in the Cold War. It is difficult to agree entirely with this basic hypothesis as the alleged Cold War nuclear stability was based on dangerous first strike deterrence and launch on warning. These doctrines have largely been abandoned, certainly by China and India which have adopted far more mature and stable nuclear doctrines. Pakistan too had adopted a doctrine of restraint, although of first use, which is now under stress with the inception of newer technologies that may also induce a first strike option.