How do epistemic communities facilitate nuclear proliferation? The nuclear nonproliferation regime contains numerous actors exerting varying levels of influence on policy outcomes and state behavior. Neoliberal institutional theory emphasizes the role of sub-national groups play in forming policy preferences; one under-researched group is epistemic communities. Existing literature tends to consider only the nonproliferation action of epistemic communities, however this study aims to examine how these communities can facilitate and lower the cost of undertaking nuclear weaponization, effectively encouraging proliferation. It is especially ironic that the literature has ignored the facilitation effect, given that America’s decision to investigate nuclear weapons began with a plea from the scientific community to investigate the destructive properties of nuclear material just prior to our entry into World War 2 and the nuclear age itself
","abstract_html":"<p>How do epistemic communities facilitate nuclear proliferation? The nuclear nonproliferation regime contains numerous actors exerting varying levels of influence on policy outcomes and state behavior. Neoliberal institutional theory emphasizes the role of sub-national groups play in forming policy preferences; one under-researched group is epistemic communities. Existing literature tends to consider only the nonproliferation action of epistemic communities, however this study aims to examine how these communities can facilitate and lower the cost of undertaking nuclear weaponization, effectively encouraging proliferation. It is especially ironic that the literature has ignored the facilitation effect, given that America’s decision to investigate nuclear weapons began with a plea from the scientific community to investigate the destructive properties of nuclear material just prior to our entry into World War 2 and the nuclear age itself</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Roze, David Ayar"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"International Relations","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jean Krasno","Jeffrey Kucik"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:57:08Z","subjects":["Episteric","Nuclear","proliferation","International Relations","Political Science"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/598","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jean Krasno","Jeffrey Kucik"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Roze, David Ayar"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-08-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["International Relations"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Episteric","Nuclear","proliferation","International Relations","Political Science"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/598"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["How do epistemic communities facilitate nuclear proliferation? The nuclear nonproliferation regime contains numerous actors exerting varying levels of influence on policy outcomes and state behavior. Neoliberal institutional theory emphasizes the role of sub-national groups play in forming policy preferences; one under-researched group is epistemic communities. Existing literature tends to consider only the nonproliferation action of epistemic communities, however this study aims to examine how these communities can facilitate and lower the cost of undertaking nuclear weaponization, effectively encouraging proliferation. It is especially ironic that the literature has ignored the facilitation effect, given that America’s decision to investigate nuclear weapons began with a plea from the scientific community to investigate the destructive properties of nuclear material just prior to our entry into World War 2 and the nuclear age itself
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Epistemic Communities and Proliferation: The Implications of Nuclear Knowledge"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jean Krasno","Jeffrey Kucik"],"dc:creator":["Roze, David Ayar"],"dc:date.available":["2018-08-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["How do epistemic communities facilitate nuclear proliferation? The nuclear nonproliferation regime contains numerous actors exerting varying levels of influence on policy outcomes and state behavior. Neoliberal institutional theory emphasizes the role of sub-national groups play in forming policy preferences; one under-researched group is epistemic communities. Existing literature tends to consider only the nonproliferation action of epistemic communities, however this study aims to examine how these communities can facilitate and lower the cost of undertaking nuclear weaponization, effectively encouraging proliferation. It is especially ironic that the literature has ignored the facilitation effect, given that America’s decision to investigate nuclear weapons began with a plea from the scientific community to investigate the destructive properties of nuclear material just prior to our entry into World War 2 and the nuclear age itself
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/598"],"dc:subject":["Episteric","Nuclear","proliferation","International Relations","Political Science"],"dc:title":["Epistemic Communities and Proliferation: The Implications of Nuclear Knowledge"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["International Relations"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:57:08Z"}