THE FRAGILE TRADITION OF NUCLEAR RESTRAINT

Abstract

The Tradition of Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons by T.V. Paul. Stanford University Press, 2009. 319 pages, $29.95.

Keywords:

• Nuclear weapons
• deterrence
• nuclear policy
• non-use
• nuclear restraint

Notes

1. Paul's book also contains some technical inaccuracies that do not affect his argument: the B-1B bomber does not carry air-launched cruise missiles of any kind, either nuclear-armed or conventional; the inclusion of a nuclear-powered attack submarine in a 1971 U.S. naval task force to the Bay of Bengal does not indicate nuclear coercion against India, since attack submarines of that era carried no landattack weapons; and transfer of Pakistani weapons or materials to terrorists would not help in creating “dirty bombs” (Paul may mean improvised nuclear devices, which would be a significant concern).