There is no denying that nuclear weapons have had a huge impact upon the public conscience and public opinion has a huge impact upon the use of nuclear weapons. The current theories proposing the motivations of using nuclear weapons are separated into three categories: security, domestic politics, and norms. A fourth theory is now proposed. The development of nuclear weapons can be the tool by which a government attempts to validate their power and worth as a modern state in the absence of more traditional means. For the purposes of speaking of nuclear weapons, “modern” shall mean after the end of the Cold War around 1990. Before this point, the international situation had incredibly high tensions, leading to a different environment for the …show more content…
Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan were close allies with Russia, completely disarmed, and gave their nuclear weapons to Russia. South Africa was suspected to have performed nuclear weapon tests but signed the NPT in 1990 when the threat disappeared. When the threat of nuclear war disappeared, Argentina and Brazil were already the most advanced Latin-America states and jointly agreed to cease any potential development of nuclear weapons. While these states were not in the most stable conditions at the time (i.e. official beginning of the end of Apartheid in South Africa), all states given as examples here had strong allies, strong governments, strong economies, etc. In short, they had solid connections and diplomatic ties with the majority of the …show more content…
differences, motivates a state towards the development of nuclear weapons. This is because humanity has made nuclear weapons into a symbol of great power though the energy, medical and other benefits of nuclear development is appreciated. Many states of today have the capability to develop nuclear weapons; however, they have chosen to halt their progress before that point. They are content with their position in the world. When a state’s international relations or internal affairs are unsteady, the state is at an increased risk of developing nuclear