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Weapons of Mass Destruction

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Many significant issues and controversies have arisen post Cold War regarding Weapons proliferation. According to the United States State Department, Weapons proliferation is defined as “The spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Horizontal proliferation refers to the spread of WMD to states that have not previously possessed them. Vertical proliferation refers to an increase in the amount or devastating capacity of any currently existing WMD arsenals within a state.” (1) The United Nations Security Council declared in January 1992 that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction “…constitutes a threat to international peace and security.” (Pg 92 POWMD) Currently the United Nations (UN) has 190 member countries, but only eight of them are known to have WMD capabilities. They are: the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan. The UN believes Israel and North Korea possess nuclear weapons/capabilities, but there is no solid evidence. Weapons proliferation today is on the move, more than a dozen countries had started weapons programs in the past, but all were stopped prior to full-up capabilities coming online. Today several states and sub-national groups to include Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and the Al-Queda are pursuing clandestine nuclear weapons programs. (2) These counties want prestige, the added security, domestic control and diplomatic bargaining power that comes with possessing WMD. They want a place on the “World stage” and are using the avenue of weapons proliferation to gain the power needed to get them on that stage. In order to control Weapons Proliferation, policymakers must engage in liberalism based governing, providing the greatest possible international cooperation. Secondly, as a prerequisite to obtaining that cooperation, they must act to strengthen international norms, or rules of acceptable

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