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The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation

Winner of the 2007 Edgar S. Furniss Award for Best First Book in International Security Studies, from the Mershon Center, Ohio State University.

Winner of the 2007 Alexander L. George Award for Best Book in Political Psychology, from the International Society of Political Psychology.

The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation : Identity, Emotions and Foreign Policy

By Jacques E. C. Hymans

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2006

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List Price (paperback) $29.99; (hardcover) $75.00
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Editorial Reviews


'A novel, compelling challenge to the conventional wisdom on why some states obtain nuclear weapons. This systematic study provides important ideas regarding nuclear proliferation that will receive serious consideration.' Alexander George, Stanford University


'Hymans has written an exceptionally good book. He asks why states choose to develop nuclear weapons and finds that most of what we think we know about this critical decision is wrong. Challenging interpretations that rest on strategic calculations, norms in the international system and bureaucratic considerations, Hymans develops a novel theory emphasizing how individual leaders conceive of their nation's identity. He explores the power of his theory by analyzing the French, Argentine, Australian, and Indian decisions regarding nuclear weapons. His case-studies are rich histories in their own right, delving deeply into first-source documents and original interviews. Beyond the impressive theoretical and empirical contribution, Hymans also offers important policy lessons for the future that should be read widely.' Richard K. Herrmann, Ohio State University


'The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation is a sophisticated effort at theory building that draws together contemporary debates about identity and the latest research on affect/emotions to arrive at an explanation of why states go nuclear. This is also an excellent work of comparative foreign policy at its best: Hymans' execution of his comparative cases reveals the causal dynamics convincingly.'Yuen Foong Khong, University of Oxford

Book Description


Dozens of states have long been capable of acquiring nuclear weapons, yet only a few have actually done so. Jacques E. C. Hymans finds that the key to this surprising historical pattern lies not in externally imposed constraints, but rather in state leaders' conceptions of the national identity. Synthesizing a wide range of scholarship from the humanities and social sciences to experimental psychology and neuroscience, Hymans builds a rigorous model of decisionmaking that links identity to emotions and ultimately to nuclear policy choices. Exhaustively researched case studies of France, India, Argentina, and Australia - two that got the bomb and two that abstained - demonstrate the value of this model while debunking common myths. This book will be invaluable to policymakers and concerned citizens who are frustrated with the frequent misjudgments of states' nuclear ambitions, and to scholars who seek a better understanding of how leaders make big foreign policy decisions.

 


 

Other Writings on International Security

Estimating the DPRK's Nuclear Intentions and Capacities: A Comparative Foreign Policy Approach(external link)
East Asia Institute (Seoul, Korea) Working Paper No. 8 (2007)

 

The Roots of the Washington Threat Consensus (pdf) (Be patient: file is large.)
Published in Betty Glad and Christopher Dolan, eds, Striking First: The Bush Doctrine and the Reshaping of US Foreign Policy (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2004), pp. 33-45.

 

Why Do States Acquire Nuclear Weapons? Comparing the Cases of India and France (pdf)
Published in Nuclear India in the Twenty-First Century, ed. D. R. SarDesai and Raju G. C . Thomas (Palgrave, 2002), pp, 139-160.

 

Of Gauchos and Gringos: Why Argentina Never Wanted the Bomb, and Why the United States Thought It Did (pdf)
Published in Security Studies, vol. 10, no. 3 (Spring 2001), pp. 153-185.

 

Isotopes and Identity: Australia and the Nuclear Weapons Option, 1949-1999 (pdf)
Published in The Nonproliferation Review, vol. 7, no. 1 (Spring 2000), pp. 1-23.

 

International Political Economy

Money for Mars? The Euro Banknotes and European Identity (pdf)
Published in Robert Fishman and Anthony Messina, eds, The Year of the Euro (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).

 

International Patterns in National Identity Content: The Case of Japanese Banknote Iconography (pdf)
Journal of East Asian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 (May-August 2005)

 

The Changing Color of Money: European Currency Iconography and Collective Identity (pdf)
European Journal of International Relations, vol. 10, no. 1 (March 2004).

 

Raízes do Eurocepticismo Americano: As Consequências perceptivas da Identidade Nacional (pdf)
("Roots of American Euroskepticism: The Perceptual Consequences of National Identity"), Estratégia: Revista de Estudos Internacionais 17 (2nd Semester, 2002), pp. 65-81.

Education

"What Counts as History and How Much Does History Count? The Case of French Secondary Education," published in Yasemin Soysal and Hanna Schissler's 2005 The Nation, Europe, and the World
(search for "Hymans")

Identity Theory

Applying Social Identity Theory to the Study of International Politics: A Plea for Caution (pdf)
Paper originally presented to the International Studies Association conference, New Orleans, 2002..