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Language
English (en)
Date of Award
5-1-2017
Author's Department
International and Area Studies
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (A.B.)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Restricted
Abstract
The current threats to the national security of states have evolved from other aggressive states to the abundance of non-state terror groups wreaking havoc and destruction. Non-state terror groups aim to eliminate the power and influence of states from their region. The decentralized nature of non-state terror groups creates a unique and challenging task for states in the prevention of escalating offensive forces. States aim to prevent non-state terror groups from pursuing a nuclear program, because if or when these groups construct or obtain a nuclear weapon, they will launch it and cause mass destruction, psychological terror, and disorder in the states affected. In order for states to prevent non-state terror groups from pursuing a nuclear weapon, they should aim to secure further access to nuclear materials, even low-grade radiological material. States should also aim to deter the non-state terror groups from pursuing a nuclear weapon program by undermining the group’s constituent support for an escalation in violence. Past deterrence theories, originating from the Cold War era, fail to explain current national security threats outside a bipolar world system. By assessing the current national security threats through past principles, this project will aspire to demonstrate the gap in academic literature between nuclear deterrence and the obstacles non-state terror groups have created in recent years.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7936/kpyt-dg02
Mentor
Andrew Sobel
Recommended Citation
Pitz, Samantha, "Emerging Nuclear Threats:
Preventing Non-State Terror Groups from Pursuing Nuclear
Programs" (2017). Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses. 190.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.7936/kpyt-dg02
Comments
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