Overview
Colin Gray returns nuclear weapons to the center stage of international politics.. "Taking issue with the complacent belief that a happy mixture of deterrence, arms control, and luck will enable humanity to cope adequately with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Gray argues that the risk posed by WMD is ever more serious. Policy that ignores the present nuclear age, he cautions, is policy that ignores reality.. "Gray's iconoclastic analysis, which includes a rigorous examination of the major policy and conceptual issues associated with WMD, criticizes traditional approaches to nonproliferation and assaults as fallacious both the aspiration to "abolish" or "marginalize" nuclear weapons and the idea that there is a "nuclear taboo" in universal operation. The Second Nuclear Age dares to specify the policy merit in nuclear weapons today.Synopsis
Colin Gray returns nuclear weapons to the center stage of international politics.. "Taking issue with the complacent belief that a happy mixture of deterrence, arms control, and luck will enable humanity to cope adequately with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Gray argues that the risk posed by WMD is ever more serious. Policy that ignores the present nuclear age, he cautions, is policy that ignores reality.. "Gray's iconoclastic analysis, which includes a rigorous examination of the major policy and conceptual issues associated with WMD, criticizes traditional approaches to nonproliferation and assaults as fallacious both the aspiration to "abolish" or "marginalize" nuclear weapons and the idea that there is a "nuclear taboo" in universal operation. The Second Nuclear Age dares to specify the policy merit in nuclear weapons today.
Booknews
Gray (international politics and Director of the Center for Security Studies, U. of Hull, UK) argues that nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons continue to play an important role for national and international security, in spite of many policymakers' belief that they can and should be abolished. He discusses fallacies that he believes impede good policy formulation, analyzes the intellectual and policy terrain of current nuclear strategy, and considers ways to cope with the future of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)