Nuclear (De)Proliferation: Intended vs. Inadvertent Policy Outcomes

June 2018 No Comments

Nuclear (De)Proliferation: Intended vs. Inadvertent Policy Outcomes

Speaker: Petrovics, A. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [LLNL])

Date: 19 June 2018

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Ms. Ariel Petrovics (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) as a part of its SMA INDOPACOM Speaker Series. Ms. Petrovics spoke about her current research project, which utilizes an original cross-national dataset ranging from 1945-2012 and analyzes trends in counterproliferation efforts. She conducted this research to assess the conditions under which foreign policies will encourage nuclear reversal as opposed to accelerating proliferation. After reviewing (de)proliferation types (coercive and cooperative) and the mechanisms of effect (capability and motivation), she revealed her primary research findings, highlighting that the most common counterproliferation tactics can in some cases pose the greatest proliferation risks. Ms. Petrovics concluded the session by performing a more in-depth case evaluation of North Korea and discussing the implications of her work, along with areas for further research.