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Cover; Half-title; Title page; Copyright information; Table of contents; List of Contributors; Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction: The Problem of Black-Market Nuclear Technology Networks; Illicit Nuclear Trade in a Globalizing World; A Potent Example: The A.Q. Khan Network; Why Study Illicit Nuclear Trade?; Continuing Questions and a Plan of the Book; Pathways to Acquiring Nuclear Weapons-Related Technologies; Sources and Limits; 2 The World of Illicit Nuclear Trade: Present and Future; Countries Likely to Use Illicit Trade; Smuggling Methods in Nuclear and Nuclear-Related Commodities.

Every nuclear weapons program for decades has relied extensively on illicit imports of nuclear-related technologies. This book offers the most detailed public account of how states procure what they need to build nuclear weapons, what is currently being done to stop them, and how global efforts to prevent such trade could be strengthened. While illicit nuclear trade can never be stopped completely, effective steps to block illicit purchases of nuclear technology have sometimes succeeded in slowing nuclear weapons programs and increasing their costs, giving diplomacy more chance to work. Hence, this book argues, preventing illicit transfers wherever possible is a key element of an effective global non-proliferation strategy

Traditional theory of international politics maintains that, other things being equal, a multipolar balance-of-power system. Arms-control theory, on the other hand, generally contends that an increase in independent nuclear powers is a direct threat to the stability of the international system. is more stable than a bipolar system. A bipolar nuclear deterrent relationship is believed to be inherently more stable than one in which equilibrium is maintained among several nuclear powers in independent or alliance relationships. Though the relatively greater stability of a bipolar system may be preferred, its stability is, nevertheless, contingent. Maintaining the stability of mutual nuclear deterrence while restraining aggression is the primary goal of arms control.