Epistemic Communities and Proliferation: The Implications of Nuclear Knowledge

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

International Relations

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Roze, David Ayar

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jean Krasno
• Jeffrey Kucik

• Episteric
• Nuclear
• proliferation
• International Relations
• Political Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/598

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-1602