Strategic Views from the Second Tier

de Weixing Hu

Strategic Views from the Second Tier is an effort to review the nuclear weapons policies of the second tier nuclear states: France, Britain, and China. Their roles as independent deterrents in international politics either have been neglected or taken for granted, except when there is a crisis. The end of a bipolar international system and deep reductions in both the American and Russian nuclear arsenals have increased the relative importance of the nuclear forces of these three states. In managing the transition to a post-Cold War nuclear environment there is a growing need for more open dialogues between France, Britain, and China, and between these states and the United States and Russia. This book does just this. In bringing together a distinguished group of scholars and policymakers from all of these nations, Hopkins and Hu have added immeasurably to the storehouse of knowledge in this delicate area and, no less, provided a policy framework for conflict resolution. This is, in consequence, a thoroughgoing and entirely up-to-date offering that addresses the dangers of war and opportunities for peace in a new climate in which the five avowed nuclear powers confront proliferation activities from Third World states.