Proliferation & Instability: How Nuclear Weapons Acquisition Alters Inter-state Relations

I theorize that in a dyad of a status quo nuclear state and a new nuclear state, the stage of nuclear development of the new nuclear state affects the level of tensions that the status quo nuclear state directs at the new nuclear state. Threat perception is the variable that causes the status quo nuclear state to respond to the new nuclear state’s stages of nuclear development. I hypothesize that as the new nuclear state develops its nuclear arsenal, tensions will rise until the new nuclear state’s first nuclear test and then fall. This thesis tests this theory through a mixed methods approach of both quantitative analysis and case studies. The results suggest that there is some support for this theory, particularly in the cases examined