Nuclear non-proliferation: the South African experience in global context

• Main Author: Van Vuuren, Rianne
• Other Authors: Labuschagne, Gerhardus Stephanus
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Nuclear Weapon Programme; South Africa; Disincentives; Incentives; Norms; Nuclear Weapons; Nuclear Non-Proliferation; 327.1747; Nuclear non-proliferation; Nuclear disarmament > South Africa; Nuclear weapons > Government policy > South Africa; Nuclear weapons industry > South Africa; Internal security > South Africa; International relations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1379

The objectives of the study were to demonstrate that South Africa's decisions to develop and destroy its nuclear weapon capability were influenced by reactions to domestic security and other issues unrelated to security. South Africa obtained a nuclear weapon capacity because of an incremental approach to the nuclear weapon decision. The threat perceptions in the mind of the decision maker were also dominant factors, especially when the final decision for a nuclear deterrent was taken. The decision to destroy the nuclear weapon capacity was not primarily influenced by the growing non-proliferation norm, but by the changing security environment regionally as well as globally and possibly a realisation that a nuclear weapon capability was a significant security and financial liability for South Africa in the end. === Political Science === M.A. (International Politics)