Globalization and WMD Proliferation

Terrorism, Transnational Networks and International Security

James A. Russell, James J. Wirtz, James A. Russell, James J. Wirtz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780415433945
• eBook ISBN: 9781134079698
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This edited volume explores the relationship between the accelerating process of globalization and the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which is increasingly seen as the pre-eminent threat to international security.

The proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction has traditionally been seen as a function of the 'security dilemma' in the state-based international system. But the advent of the nuclear supply network pieced together by the Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan represented a departure from this model, involving a variety of organizations not directly connected to a state. This volume assembles an international group of experts in order to assess the relationship between proliferation and globalization to ascertain how contemporary communication, transportation and financial networks are facilitating or constraining trade in dangerous contraband. The book ultimately seeks to determine whether globalization is fundamentally altering the nature of the proliferation problem, particularly the threat that Weapons of Mass Destruction might fall into the hands of terrorists.

This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, international security, terrorism and IR in general.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• 1 WMD proliferation, globalization, and international security: whither the nexus and national security?
• 2 Globalization and nuclear proliferation
• 3 Proliferation networks in theory and practice
• 4 Globalization and WMD proliferation networks: the policy landscape
• 5 The A.Q. Khan illicit nuclear trade network and implications for non-proliferation efforts
• 6 Near-term threats of chemical weapons terrorism
• 7 Constituency constraints on violence: al-Qaeda and WMD
• 8 Organized crime, terrorism and nuclear trafficking
• 9 Globalization and WMD proliferation networks: the case of unmanned air vehicles as terrorist weapons
• 10 Intelligence and nuclear proliferation: understanding and probing complexity
• 11 Conclusion
• Index