DISARMING DOES NOT PREVENT OTHERS FROM WANTING NUCLEAR WEAPONS Robert G. Joseph and John F. Reichart. The Case for Nuclear Deterrence Today Orbis, 00304387, Winter 1998, Vol. 42, Issue 1. In the past decade, the United States and Russia have already made radical reductions in their strategic and tactical nuclear arsenals, but proliferant states have shown little sign of restraint. To argue that these states will give up their nuclear ambitions if only the United States and other declared weapon states would go to zero is wishful thinking. As evident in the examples of the five declared nuclear powers, as well as the unacknowledged nuclear weapon states, motives for acquisition of nuclear weapons are complex and varied, ranging from security to prestige. The new proliferants--the Iraqs, Irans, and North Koreas--seek weapons of mass destruction as instruments of coercion and aggression and are not going to be persuaded to forego these tools as a consequence of others disarming. In fact, radical nuclear disarmament by the United States might promote proliferation by emboldening these states to seek relative parity with the United States (especially in a regional context.
