Countries such as the United Kingdom, China, France, Israel, Pakistan and India would strive to obtain their own nuclear program. Following a period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, and as result of the increased popularity of nuclear programs among nations, in 1968 the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed. This treaty had three pillars, which denoted that states should strive for: non-proliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful use of nuclear technology. The treaty had 190 signatories and was extended indefinitely, making one of the biggest successes of international cooperation in history.
Scholars in the field have debated the reasons for why nations are inclined to acquire a nuclear program. In his essay “Peace, Stability and the Nuclear Weapons” Kenneth Waltz, allude that the main reason nation obtain nuclear weapon entails the issue of power. According to Waltz, weak states procure nuclear weapons as a way to protect themselves not only from their adversaries, but also from their allies who might not protect them in case of an attack (Waltz, 1995: 3-4). Hence, given this statement, Waltz describes the anxiety nations have of smaller countries such as North Korea, Iraq and Iran of obtaining nuclear weapons, as “odd and pervasive”(Waltz, 1995: 4), since these states are just procuring nuclear weapons out of fear (Waltz, 1995: 4). Inversely to this believe, scholar …show more content…
There are nearly 150 definitions of terrorism, and while all of them present terrorism in a different light, all of these definitions agree that terrorism can be defined as a violent use of force. The first instance of terrorism can be dated back to 66 A.D, where a political movement of the First Century attempted to incite the Judaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire. Since then, terrorism has evolved and now even different versions of such tactic exist. The most extreme version of terrorism, suicide terrorism, utilizes this tactic as method of coercion “for a group whose high interest are at stake” (Pape, 2003: 348). This a tactic the Liberation Tamil Tiger of Elam (LTTE) have utilized against the Sri Lankan government to advance their goal of becoming a state, a tactic which has been unsuccessful because the government of Sri Lanka has preferred to prosecute the war instead of succeeding to the Tamil Tigers (Pape, 2003: 352). According to the United Nations, this conflict lead to a death toll of nearly 100,000 since the beginning of the war in 1982. Hence, the Sri Lankan Civil War was costly not only for the Tamil Tigers, but also for the government and the population. Furthermore, terrorism is an act violence that is committed not only by non-state actors but also by states them. The attack on Pearl Harbor could be