Reassessing the Implications of a Nuclear-Armed Iran


Book Description

A 2005 update of ¿The Strategic Implications of a Nuclear-Armed Iran¿ by Kori Schake and Judith Yaphe, which had been issued in 2001 by the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS). Contents of this report: Iran¿s Perspective: National Rights and Nuclear Weapons; Neighbors, Negotiators, and Non-proliferators; U.S. Policy Options; Endnotes; Appendix A: Timeline of Iran¿s Path to Nuclear Weapons; Appendix B: Iran¿s Nuclear Program: Status, Risks, and Prospects; Appendix C: Walking the Tightrope: Israeli Options in Response to Iranian Nuclear Developments.




Proliferation and Emerging Nuclear Order in the Twenty-first Century


Book Description

This book provides some important perspectives on the emerging nuclear order. The contributors discuss most burning questions of the day: What are the challenges to the global nuclear regime? What are the consequences of a nuclear Iran for West Asian peace and stability? Will it give rise to a nuclear quest among the important West Asian states? How would the West respond in such an eventuality? What would be the response of major Asian powers to nuclear Iran? What are the consequences of changes in the East Asian nuclear order for stability and peace in the region and beyond? How would major regional players respond? What are the implications of non-state actors acquiring nuclear weapon technology and capabilities? What did the international community learn from the discovery of the A.Q. Khan network? What are the possibilities for international cooperation against nuclear proliferation?







The Challenge of Nuclear-armed Regional Adversaries


Book Description

A defining feature of the post-Cold War international security environment has been that the United States, acting either alone or with allies and coalition partners, possessed the capability to impose its will on states, such as Serbia and Iraq under Saddam Hussein, that could be termed regional adversaries. We define this term to mean countries (1) that pursue policies that are at odds with the interests of the United States and its security partners and that run counter to broadly accepted norms of state behavior and (2) whose size and military forces are not of the first magnitude. 1 The category is useful as a means of distinguishing this group of states from larger, more powerful states, such as Russia, China, and India, which do not share their vulnerabilities to forcible intervention and which, for the present, at least, are pursuing policies vis- -vis the United States and its allies that are generally more cooperative than confrontational.




Saudi-Iranian Relations Since the Fall of Saddam


Book Description

This book surveys how Saudi-Iranian relations have unfolded in the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine since 2003, identifying the sources of rivalry and cooperation between the two powers. Understanding and leveraging this relationship will be a critical part of U.S. efforts to promote stability after the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq and to manage the regional impact of Iran's nuclear ambitions.




War With Iran


Book Description

War With Iran: Political, Military and Economic Consequences provides readers both a history of Iran’s relationship with the West and an expert’s estimation of what the political, human and financial costs of full-scale war with Iran might be. Authors Geoffrey Kemp and John Allen Gay of the Center for the National Interest utilize their years studying and informing America’s foreign policy in the Middle East to bring to life the possible outcomes of an American military intervention in Iran. Such a decision would not only have catastrophic consequences on the Persian Gulf, but would also endanger the whole world’s delicate economy by heightening instability in an already fragile but resource-rich region. Written for anyone with an interest in the future of American foreign policy, War With Iran explores what every player has at stake in the current crisis by analyzing every tension adjacent to it; from America’s staunch support of Israel to Iran’s own dogged pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Controversial, timely and thoroughly researched, this story stands as a preliminary caution against what would be a devastating meltdown of diplomacy, for which—if peace be the goal—there is always time.




State Responses to Nuclear Proliferation


Book Description

Contemporary fears of rogue state nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism pose unique challenges for the global community. This book offers a unique approach by examining why states that have the military capability to severely damage a proliferating state’s nuclear program instead choose to pursue coercive diplomacy. The author argues cognitive psychological influences, including the trauma derived from national tragedies like the September 11th attacks and the Holocaust, and a history of armed conflict increase the threat perceptions of foreign policy decision-makers when confronting a state perceived to be challenging the existing power structure by pursuing a nuclear weapon. The powerful state’s degree of perceived threat, combined with its national security policies, military power projection capabilities, and public support then influence whether it will take no action, use coercive diplomacy/sanctions, or employ military force to address the weaker state’s nuclear ambitions.




At the Nuclear Precipice


Book Description

This book examines the intersections between international law and national policies, and nuclear proliferation and disarmament, offering a way out if policy makers of leading countries can summon the vision and political will to move away from the nuclear precipice and ensure humanity's future.




Dangerous But Not Omnipotent


Book Description

In an analysis grounded in the observation that although Iranian power projection is marked by strengths, it also has serious liabilities and limitations, this report surveys the nature of both in four critical areas and offers a new U.S. policy paradigm that seeks to manage the challenges Iran presents through the exploitation of regional barriers to its power and sources of caution in the regime?s strategic calculus.




Geopolitics


Book Description

This concise introduction to the growth and evolution of geopolitics as a discipline includes biographical information on its leading historical and contemporary practitioners and detailed analysis of its literature. An important book on a topic that has been neglected for too long, Geopolitics: A Guide to the Issues will provide readers with an enhanced understanding of how geography influences personal, national, and international economics, politics, and security. The work begins with the history of geopolitics from the late 19th century to the present, then discusses the intellectual renaissance the discipline is experiencing today due to the prevalence of international security threats involving territorial, airborne, space-based, and waterborne possession and acquisition. The book emphasizes current and emerging international geopolitical trends, examining how the U.S. and other countries, including Australia, Brazil, China, India, and Russia, are integrating geopolitics into national security planning. It profiles international geopolitical scholars and their work, and it analyzes emerging academic, military, and governmental literature, including "gray" literature and social networking technologies, such as blogs and Twitter.