Literature Review

Chappell, Brian K.

To answer the central question of this study, “When and why do states that have the military capability to use force to disrupt or destroy a proliferating state’s nuclear facilities choose to take no action, use military force, or pursue coercive diplomacy?” the research first discusses the contributions and shortcomings of the existing proliferation literature. This critique contextualizes the foundation of nuclear proliferation literature before transitioning from the study of the aggregate to the individual effects of proliferation by discussing Matthew Kroenig’s power-based Differential Effects of Nuclear Proliferation Theory, which argues nuclear proliferation has varying effects on differently situated power-projecting states and these differing effects account for the variations in their proliferation responses.