Nuclear Mosques and Monuments

After the Indian nuclear test and the oil crisis of the mid-1970s, North Americans and Europeans exerted leverage through the very technologies that represented power, might, and independence—not the vague promises of technical assistance programs but direct aid in advanced equipment such as fighter planes, tanks, and missiles. Still, nuclear reactors had become symbols of power in South Asia and the Middle East, and numerous governments financed ambitious nuclear programs—many of them with clandestine bomb programs. Despite the risks of weapons proliferation, it seemed clear to US and European governments that encouraging nuclear infrastructure, by promising a cornucopian future, was a clear path forward in regaining control of the world’s natural resources and reasserting leverage in a changing geopolitical landscape.

Nuclear Proliferation: The Next Wave in 2020

What will nuclear proliferation look like in the future? While the quest for nuclear weapons has largely quieted after the turn of the 21st century, states are still interested in acquiring nuclear technology. Nuclear latency, an earlier step on the proliferation pathway, and here defined as operational uranium enrichment or plutonium reprocessing capability, is increasingly likely to be the next phase of proliferation concern. The drivers of nuclear latency, namely security factors, including rivalries with neighboring adversaries and the existence of alliances, are especially consequential in an increasingly challenging geopolitical environment. Though poised to play a significant role in international politics moving forward, latency remains a core area of exploration and subject of debate within the nuclear weapons literature writ large. While in many ways similar to nuclear weapons’ proliferation, the pursuit of nuclear latency has distinct features that merit further attention from scholars and policymakers alike.